InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ No Such Thing As Fate ❯ Only he could piss on the World ( Chapter 19 )

Hello everyone!

I'm about to start finals so I thought I would try to get a chapter up to you all. This chapter was frustrating but I liked it a little better than the last for some reason. This chapter was also much larger at one point but I had to cut it in half.

This chapter has NOT been edited, though I wanted to send it to a beta. There are two reason's I didn't; like I said I'm about to start finals and I badly want to get this up before the wave of work comes in, second, I lost all of the emails of my betas. I have no idea who was beta-ing for me and who was my friend at some point or still is. SOOOOOOOOOO if you see anything wrong just tell me and I will fix it.

Thank you all for your reviews, they mean a lot. If you haven't yet, check out my profile so you can see the fan arts (People are so sweet!!)

I also started another story, I'm still working on the story line but I'll have it up soon. I'm also trying to decide if it's going to be a Sess/Kag, That really decides what sites I'm going to post to.

Sooooo lets begin the chapter and hope for the best. My brain is numb from reading homework then typing chapters so if there are thousands of mistakes I won't see them until I take a break, which I won't have time to do for another week and a half. I think I'm done.

Chapter 19: Steps toward Recovery: Only he could piss on the World. (Part 1)

Disclaimers rule because they stop me from being sued.

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“I thought I asked you to rest?”

Kagome glanced over her shoulder at the old woman peeking into the hut. With a smile, she pulled the sheet up closer to her body and brushed hair away from her neck, “I've never been one to sit still long” She replied, amused.

Miyami shuffled into the hut and Kagome watched her as the light of the fire danced across the walls. “The little one is having his evening meal,” she mused seeing the squirming bundle under the sheets.

Kagome chuckled “Yeah, I just keep thanking the Kami he doesn't have teeth.”

Miyami chuckled softly but quickly cleared her throat to ease along the transition of conversation, “I've come to see about your wound, though it's almost healed.” She raised an eyebrow in question, the amused gleam in her eyes suddenly wary and thoughtful. Kagome only shrugged with a knowing glance at the old woman.

“You're the talk of the village, the single men think you're lovely,” Miyami pointed out absently. Kagome blushed and Miyami chuckled again.

“How annoying, I'm trying not to attract attention,” she sighed deeply.

“I think that won't be easy for you, you're something new in a very plain village and your very beautiful. You even move like a Hime.”

Kagome stared at the fire a long moment. `I only lived in Taishi's castle for a short while, it couldn't have changed me that much that these people think I move like a Hime,' she blinked a few times and looked away.

“Will you be staying here a while?”

Kagome reached out and ran a hand through Shippou's ponytail. “I might if I don't have to worry about Shippou,” Miyami's gaze flickered to the snoring kit.

“The villagers won't bother him as long as you keep him check.” She murmured warily. Kagome finally glanced up and Miyami met her gaze. She saw the healer stiffen in fear. Kagome quickly looked away

“Your eyes they-”

Kagome gave a loud sigh, “I'm a Miko, this is my special ability so I can see in the dark” she explained quietly.

Miyami immediately brightened and Kagome had never been so delighted to lie in her life. She liked the older woman and didn't want to run be out of town or shunned because she had different abilities.

“Oh a Miko, I didn't realize. If you tell the villagers you are a lady Miko they will ignore the kits presence.”

Kagome frowned as she pulled the baby away and closed her top properly, “I don't want to, I'd rather just remain a commoner until it's time for me to begin traveling again.”

Miyami frowned uncertainly, “You could help me with all the villagers. They need medical attention and I am old and not always able to help.”

“This is not my village and I don't want to get attached. I'll help in a life or death situation but otherwise I would rather not be a doctor,” she murmured. Kagome turned the infant to lie across her lap and she pet his back to help him burp.

“I see…” Miyami said quietly her gaze distant and thoughtful.

“But you will help if the issue is serious?” Miyami asked with a small smile.

Kagome shrugged, “If I can help a person and keep them from dying then I'll help, but otherwise you're on your own Miyami-san. I've already paid my debt to you by promising to care for the baby. That was the deal right?”

Miyami nodded quickly, “And I can't thank you enough for your help, this is enough time for me to convince someone to take him.”

Kagome nodded, “I think I'll stay a bit, Shippou needs his rest and I think it's time I sat still for a bit. I can always just get up and leave when I'm ready again.”

Miyami nodded happily, “Let me see your wound, an old woman like me needs to get some rest and you need it too.” Kagome nodded and began to shrug out of her clothes.

“I have to convince a few men you aren't here to stay,” she announced mournfully.

Kagome only chuckled.

XXXXXX

“WWWAUGHHHHHH!!!!! AUGHWWWWWWWAAAAAAA!!!!”

Kagome chuckled to herself taking the shrieking infant from the little basin of water. “Yes yes, I know you don't like baths,” she cooed to the baby. He ignored her and continued to scream his rage to the sky.

Shippou grinned sadistically. “He sure sounds pissed,” he cackled a finger plugged in each ear.

“Shippou you're so mean,” she teased looking extremely amused. Shippou merely shrugged and fetched the cloth his mother used as a towel. Kagome spread the towel out in her lap. “You silly baby, what makes you think I'm going to let you poop everywhere then not bathe you,” she mused aloud.

Humming a tune to herself, she wrapped the infant in the cloth as he began to calm. She smiled as he yawned widely, “You wake the whole village early this morning and now you want a nap huh?” she tsked. “I still haven't thought of a name for you, this is usually my thing but you're the little odd ball that made me forget all the awesome names I could give you.” She used the towel to brush the wet brown hair from the infants face.

Kagome sat staring at him, her gaze fond. Shippou watched her in interest. She took the baby up in her arms and nuzzled his cheek a bright smile on her face, practically glowing in happiness. Shippou knew she loved the baby. Kagome was happy to use the motherly instincts she'd had to repress after her son had died and those same small gestures used for the baby made Shippou want to scamper away. She had learned her lesson; she wouldn't baby him unless she wanted a fussy fox kit whining for hours.

Shippou also knew that his mother wanted the baby. However, she was afraid for him and still mourning the loss of her son, there was doubt about this in Shippou's mind, no matter how happy she looked right then with the infant.

The baby smacked his lips and blinked up at her.

“Oh hello, you've been with me almost a week and this is the first time you think to open your eyes,” she mused placing a kiss on his nose. The child wiggled in his sheets but otherwise remained quiet.

Kagome tilted her head to the side in thought, staring curiously at the babe. “Kaa-san what's wrong?”

She squinted in thought.

“His eyes are grey,” Shippou frowned and leaned in close to get a better look at the baby.

“Oh, I've never seen a human with grey eyes, does that mean he's special or something?” Shippou asked curiously. Kagome frowned but didn't answer a long moment.

She finally looked at Shippou and opened her mouth to respond when a shout drew her attention. Kagome looked down the path to see a panting Anai.

“Kagome-san, Miyami-san called for you, she says it's urgent,” Kagome stood with the infant in her arms. She quickly strapped the baby onto her back and tightened the scarf around her head to hide her forehead and hold her hair back.

“Kaa-san?” he pointed to the basin filled with water and she nodded. He tipped it over and dumped their supplies in the basin to be carried.

Kagome walked swiftly toward Anai who frowned worriedly, “Did she say why she wants me. Is someone hurt?”

Anai shook her head slowly. “Miyami-san just wants everyone back in the village immediately.” Kagome nodded her eyes narrow in suspicion as Shippou bounded to her side.

“You lead the way back Anai-chan” Kagome advised the younger girl. Anai only nodded and rushed to the path hidden by large branches and leaves. They walked in eerie silence the whole trip with only the sound of their feet scampering over rocks and dry ground.

They walked from the forest path and stepped onto the village's main street. Kagome immediately saw the streets were quickly emptying. She blinked confused and walked a little further into the village center. Down another street, she saw the villagers standing in front a group of men trying their hardest to look as little a threat as possible. She immediately recognized four of the visitors as samurai.

Her eyes widened and she rushed back toward Anai and Shippou. She grabbed their hands and dragged them toward the hut where she saw Anai's mother waving frantically from the safety of the doorway. Kagome shoved both children inside and pulled the cloth over the door tightly.

She looked at all the other kids and noted the other two adults in the small hut with them. “What's going on Saiyori-san, Yumi-san,” they both peeked out the door with her. Kagome had been in the village for almost five days and the women in the village tended to go out of their way to ignore their temporary resident.

All the same, Kagome went out of her way to avoid having to deal with anyone. Men liked to ogle her but nobody had confronted or tried to talk to her yet. The kids refused to be ignored and they often came to see her against their parent's wishes. A combination of all these things made Kagome an outcast of sorts. It didn't help that she was taking care of the son of a deceased but previously loose woman in the village.

The whole situation reminded her of being in high school again where peer pressure ruled and if you talked to the nerd, you were considered a nerd too. The other women were just following the lead of one woman and that woman was Kisa.

Kisa was the daughter of the village head and Kagome had a sneaking suspicion of what had put the baby on her destroy-first-ask-questions-later list. As the daughter of the village head, she was supposed to be more respected than the other women of the village and be the model for them to follow. The image she had probably spent her whole childhood building for herself had come crashing down in wake of the villages spinster or, as the others liked to whisper, whore.

The fact that Kisa's husband was a man-whore and in general a pig turned out to be a mute point because he, sadly, was a man in the feudal era and he had power. He had shamed Kisa by sleeping around and getting another woman pregnant. Kagome understood Kisa's anger perfectly well, but she didn't like the universal belief that she was going to end up a repeat of the baby's mother. Kagome also didn't like how Kisa tended to treat the poor infant and she'd made her opinion well known during a stop down to the river a day ago. That had turned into a yelling match Kagome had won, but it had scared the other women a little too much. Now they avoided her more than before.

Of course, through all of this, the villagers could be reasoned with and this was just one of those times where reason demanded you protect your own. Kagome had been in the village just long enough that someone would have probably come to grab her in the event of a big issue in the village, just as Anai had done. They would talk to her and they would help each other until the trouble was gone. After that, it was back to the status quo, not that Kagome cared what they thought of her or how they acted around her, as long as they weren't stupid enough to start a fight.

“I don't know, they just walked into our village and said they would burn it down if we didn't feed them.”

Kagome sighed, “That's not hard, just feed them and they'll move on right?”

Saiyori and Yumi glanced at each other, “We can only hope. Samurai might burn down our village just because they can,” Yumi murmured gravely.

“What if they are soldiers from Sagisoto's army,” Sayori gasped behind a hand. They both looked at each other fearfully, “you've heard of Sagisoto haven't you Kagome?”

Kagome nodded slowly, swallowing her nervousness. Of all the people and demons she could get herself tied up with, Sagisoto was not someone she wanted to meet in her lifetime. It was a hassle and Kagome strongly associated Naraku with the human lord for some reason beyond her comprehension. Despite the fact she didn't have proof, she was willing to trust those instincts that had saved her life on numerous occasions.

“I hope they just agree and feed them,” she insisted stubbornly. The baby on her back squirmed but she only bounced him a bit, whispering words of comfort.

“Of course they're not going to let them in the village,” Yumi gasped looking offended with the mere thought they would stay.

“Kaa-san what's going on,” Anai hissed speaking up for the other frightened children. Saiyori looked down and hushed her daughter.

“Are you crazy, they have swords and it'd just be better to feed them and let them move on,” Kagome gushed trying to reason with the other two women.

A cry came from outside followed by shouts of fear. Yumi moved to rush forward but Kagome stopped her, “I'll go, you two stay with the children” she said quickly. The two women didn't protest, not that Kagome had expected them too.

“Shippou if anybody tries to hurt them you set the bastards on fire, am I clear?” Shippou nodded quickly ignoring the stunned glances.

Kagome rushed from the hut toward the group of villagers. She ignored the Samurai and shockingly enough the three monks with them. She looked at Miyami, who was on the ground with one of the men, a hand over his bloody torso as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding.

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she shot a glare at the Samurai sheathing his sword, “you'll show respect you filthy peasant and do as we say,” the leader of the group sneered.

Kagome bit her lip and tugged a few of the frightened stiff males around her, “take him to a hut, somebody grab some water,” she hissed pushing a few of them forward to lift the wailing man.

She shot one last glare at the samurai then grabbed the village leader by his shirt. “Just feed them before they do more,” she pleaded before racing away.

The hut where they had taken the wounded villager was crowded with people trying to restrain him. Kagome rushed in and pushed them away to press a hand to the wound and see what needed to be done. A short glance was all she needed to figure out he was going to bleed to death if she didn't do something immediately.

“Damn,” she rasped making the frightened villager glance at her. She looked at her hands, “Idiot, you're going to die because you can't hold your tongue” she spat. Somebody started to scream at her but she dived for a wall and quickly began to draw seals in the man's blood. She finished in moments and moved on to the next wall.

“Kagome,” Miyami cried urgently.

“I know, give me a minute unless you want a reason for them to stay longer than necessary, they have monks with them, and they'll notice what I'm doing without these wards.” She worked quickly as she spoke. Kagome finished the last wall and pressed a finger to the wards to activate them. She turned to her patient.

“Give me the water, I have to see the wound,” she demanded.

She ripped the shirt off him before pouring water over the wound. She dropped the bucket and her hands were surrounded in a frosty white light streaked in pink. Kagome touched the wound and began her work, completely oblivious to the hanging jaws of her audience. She sat a long while simply closing the wound. It was a violent red scar by the time she finished. With a sigh, she dropped her hands and sat blinking dazed at everyone in the room.

“Miyami-san please clean and wrap the wound, the skin is still fresh and it can reopen, the wound should be smeared with medicine also,” she murmured. She moved a hand up to take the pulse of her patient before sighing tiredly when she found him alive and in a deep recovering sleep.

She took a few deep breaths to gather her wits before looking at everyone in the room. “If any of you speak a word of this to anyone, I will kill you,” she whispered in a low menacing voice. She got a unanimous nod of heads and a few frightened glances. Kagome looked over her shoulder trying to catch a glimpse of the infant strapped to her.

“He's asleep Kagome-san,” Miyami murmured sedately while she did as Kagome had asked of her. Kagome nodded and moved for the freshly filled bucket. The room was silent as she washed her hands before standing and wandering from the hut.

Kagome wandered back toward the hut where the children were being kept. She frowned and paused a few feet from the dwelling when she found that the place four huts down was filled with seven unknown auras. With a grunt of annoyance, she moved the flap aside and stepped in only to have her leg nearly swept from underneath her by Shippou's running tackle.

“Kaa-san what took you so long,” Shippou grumbled into the fabric of her Kimono. Kagome smiled indulgently at the kit and glanced around the room to find some of the children missing.

Shippou noticing her gaze and quickly spoke up, “The Kaa-san's took their kids home when village leader came in and said they all need to cook to feed the guests.” Kagome made a face. She closed her eyes and searched for the other women of the village. They were in their homes but some were putting the finished food in one hut next door to the home where the samurai and monks were staying.

Kagome sighed and sat down on the floor and the remaining children came to sit around her. She untied the baby on her back. Kagome tore a bit of the babies blanket and dipped her fingers in the ash from the fire pit. Rubbing her hands together as it darkened her fingers she began to draw on the strip of cloth. When she was finished, she took a moment to eye her work before passing it on to Shippou.

“Keep this on you, I don't want the monks to find and hurt you.” He nodded and tied the strip of cloth around his waist.

“Shippou I need a nap okay” she murmured laying down with the child even as she spoke. “Oh,” Shippou looked at her wide eyed his mouth already open to ask a question. He paused when he saw she was already asleep. The kit eyed his mother, the other kids, and the baby before he set his face in a firm scowl. He marched over to the entrance of the hut and plopped down to guard the entrance.

Nobody came near the hut unless they had a child to retrieve.

XXXXXXX

“Daisuke, why won't they leave” A thoroughly pissed husband snarled.

Daisuke frowned making his wrinkled visage crinkle even more. “I don't know, if we hadn't allowed them into the village-” he shot a glance at Kagome who sat in the back corner of the meeting hut with the other women, letting them coo over the baby. Now that they didn't have to care for him, they were more than willing to tickle and play with the child.

Kagome stuck her middle finger up.

Saiyori smacked her hand down and Kagome snickered as Daisuke cleared his throat. Kagome scared him sometimes and he had the strangest urge to keep her happy. “…Then we wouldn't have this problem”

“Well excuse me for saving you all from being chopped up by moody Samurai,” she drawled sarcastically.

“Kagome…” Daisuke warned. He was immensely grateful when she shrugged but went quiet.

“We need to figure out a way to get them to leave the village or they'll stay and eat until there's nothing left. However, we must be careful, if we anger them, all they have to do is tell their master and we will have our village razed to the ground. Maybe if we appeal to the monks with them…”

“Kagome-san is a Miko maybe she could speak to them” all eyes turned on Kagome who rolled her eyes. `How the hell did they find that out? Miyami must have had to explain how I healed that guy…'

“Aww come on, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not the best choice to have a discussion with anyone, I tend to piss people off.” She waved a hand to dismiss the idea. Kagome had suddenly become aware of a change in attitude after they'd found she was a Miko, therefore bound by some universal Miko rule that forbade them from having children. Which for them translated into she couldn't be a whore, she was taking care of the baby because it was her duty, and no one would be losing their families to her.

Kagome rolled her eyes.

The whole village seemed to stare at her intensely and Kagome poked her bottom lip out knowing that she wasn't getting out of their `request'. She sighed and rested her head back against the wall, “Fine, I'll go talk to them.”

She stood slowly and sent the occupants of the hut a dirty stare.

“If I piss someone off don't get upset with me,” She huffed tying the baby to her back.

“If you do well Kagome-san, I have a hide baby carrier that you can put on your back instead of having to use sheets like that,” one of the women offered. Kagome looked thoughtful at the older woman then shrugged, “it's a deal”

She stepped from the hut and made her way toward the guests' hut.

“…there is something about her. Her aura, we cannot see it. There was a youkai's aura here shortly but she must have scared it off. It is possible she is a Miko.” Kagome paused in mid knock and blinked at the cloth over the doorway.

“We're looking for the Kami, not for some wretched child or some random Miko,” snapped a gruff voice full of irritation.

“That is obvious Samurai-sama. It is not as if we like being dragged around by Samurai threatening our lives. I think you should find out who she is. Her baby may be the child we are looking for,” another voice cut in calmly.

“You monks are imbeciles, you lied and told our master you could sense auras just so he would spare your pathetic lives,” the third voice sounded very pissed.

“W-What, have you not been listening, we said she is hiding her aura, we can't see her babies aura either,” this voice seemed to come from someone younger than the others.

Kagome swallowed thickly when she realized about whom they were talking about. Her own aura was hidden to keep her out of sight from Taishi's monk, Ranam, and protect the baby by extension. She had hidden the infant's aura to keep him from attracting youkai, his aura was just so damn bright...

Her power acted as a cloak around the both of them as long as the child was within a few feet of her, another reason she hadn't let him out of her sight.

She stepped out of the doorway and stood close to the wall to listen. “Unless you give us some certain answers we're moving on. If we attack a village so far into a territory that our master is not close to conquering then we may cause more problems that aren't needed right now. Our master will have all our heads if a lord comes after him sooner than he is ready because of us.”

“But were trying to tell you that infant may be the god of the Temple of Light” Kagome felt her stomach drop.

`What are they talking about, did something bad happened at the Temple of Light?' A bead of sweat slipped down her face. She twitched when the babe on her back whimpered. It wasn't very loud but loud enough for trained ears to hear. She glanced over her shoulder bouncing him a bit.

`Kuro, is it really you?'

Kagome shook her head quickly. This wasn't the time to freak out, later.

She knocked on the doorframe “May I come in?”

Nobody answered for a long moment and Kagome was sure they were glancing at one another in question.

“Enter.”

Kagome made a face at the command but quickly forced a smile. She moved the flap of the door aside and poked her head inside, ready to the part of the curious but proper village girl/Miko. She shuffled in with a few quick and awkward bows.

“Nice to meet you Monk-sama's and Samurai-sama's”

They sent her hard stares. Kagome took a deep breath as she sat down and bowed, staying enough upright so that the baby didn't slide off her back. “Forgive me, I was sent to see if you would be staying a bit longer.”

“What's it to you girl,” a voice sneered. Kagome knew from the direction the voice had come from, she had gotten the comment from a Samurai. She tensed trying to keep control her anger; all the same, they mistook her actions as fear.

“We are almost out of food, we are a small poor village…” that brought silence back to the room. Kagome was sure she was being glared at but she couldn't bring herself to care. The baby on her back whimpered again and she mentally cursed as he drew more attention to himself.

`Come on kid, what's wrong you usually aren't so noisy. This is a really bad time.'

Warmth spread across her back and Kagome blinked owlishly from her bowed position.

`He didn't…'

She ran a hand across her back making a show of smoothing down wrinkles until her hand met the wet spot on the back of her yukata.

`This little…how did it get through his diaper!' she thought, appalled. She had the sudden urge to bang her forehead against something hard, preferably made of unsmoothed brick.

The men around her seemed to realize her situation and thought her incompetent and harmless for it, all the better for her. “Don't worry girl we don't want your food, we'll be on our way soon enough.”

Kagome sighed to herself and sat up averting her gaze timidly.

“How old is he?” one of the monks asked. She did not glance up. Her eyes would attract the wrong kind of attention.

“Twelve weeks and some days” she lied smoothly. The monk who had asked the question gave a sigh of frustration and the samurai sneered at him. Obviously, they were looking for a child of a certain age.

“Why don't you have an aura?”

The hut fell silent again and Kagome could have laughed in their face right then.

“When I was a child a Miko-sama came through. She told me I had spiritual abilities but she was unable to take me on as a student because my mother refused. She told me that I would attract youkai if I didn't learn to hide my aura.” She paused for effect, seeming uncertain, “She taught me how to hide myself but I haven't quite mastered the ability. I don't think I would have made a good Miko now that I've been trying to master this aura hiding ability,” she laughed a bit.

“How do you still have abilities though you have an infant,” one of the monks snapped, obviously feeling put out.

“Oh, he's not my baby, he's my little brother. Mother died in child birth,” she lied easily even adding a little discomfort to her voice at the demise of her beloved `mother'. The fact she had a pissy wet spot on her back made it that much easier to sound uncomfortable. The monks groaned rubbing away headaches and the samurai glared venomously at them.

“We'll if you have spiritual abilities it is safe to say your little brother will also develop spiritual powers. If you would like we can have him trained as a monk.”

Kagome's eye twitched but she clapped her hands together and smiled happily. “That sounds wonderful. For my little brother to become a Houshi-sama, what an honor,” she chirped in delight. She seemed to deflate, “but he needs me, he's not old enough to survive travel with you now…” she chewed at her lip.

The monks glanced at each other nodding in total agreement with her.

“This is not a recruiting session, we're leaving,” the leader of the group snarled.

“What is his name, we will send word from our temple in a few years.”

Kagome jerked a bit and three sharp gazes turned on her, “Kuro, his names Kuro”

`I can't believe I just told them that and admitted this baby is Kuro-chan in the same breath. They don't even look alike' she mentally berated herself. The monks didn't have time to debate if they should call her on her momentary pause before a shout outside the hut caught her attention. She scrambled for the door knowing that voice all too well. Kagome shoved the flap aside and turned to look down the road.

Anai stood in the middle of the street staring in shock and horror as a second set of Samurai rode in on their horses. Kagome rushed to the girl snatched her from the road, and kept running. She knew those three new samurai and all she could do was hope they hadn't seen her face.

The other villagers scattered as the samurai guest rushed from their hut to meet the new arrivals. Kagome shoved Anai into her mother's arms. With a huff she looked back at the brown clad samurai to the blue clad one's that belonged to Taishi's samurai.

`This is about to get nasty, I think this is a good time for me and Shippou get out of here before things get out of hand.'

She raced back to her hut where she found Shippou waiting for her, tense in fear and confusion. She quickly ushered the kit back inside. “Grab your things, we're leaving. Things just got really bad,” she murmured quietly as if speaking to loudly would draw attention. Shippou nodded, scooped up all his things and began stuffing them in the bag.

“Kaa-san what about him,” he asked in a high pitch voice, pointing to the baby. Kagome glanced over her shoulder at the wide-awake child who was glanced around curiously with unseeing eyes.

“He's coming with us, nobody in the village wants him here anyway,” she murmured quickly as she slung the bag over her shoulder, mindful of the infant. Kagome grabbed Shippou's hand and pulled him from the hut. A glance down the street told her battle had broken out between the two different groups of Samurai.

A horse raced past Kagome, kicking wildly.

“Kagome!” her gaze darted down the street to where Miyami was trying to help another older woman away from the chaos.

“Why is it everywhere I go, chaos follows,” she moaned miserably.

She sent Shippou a glance, “I can't just leave them to deal with these samurai alone.”

“But Kaa-san those are Taishi's samurai, what if they want to kill you for what happened to Taishi.”

Kagome cringed, “It's my fault. I need to take responsibility for my actions, I can get away…” she stood a moment becoming lost in thought before she gave a frustrated growl and raced toward Miyami.

“Shippou get to safety” she called back.

Kagome raced past Miyami with the order to hide. At the end of the road, she spotted the source of her ire in the form of eight samurai fighting each other. The monks had wisely chosen to stay out of the fight.

Kagome scowled at the fighting men.

“You stupid girl what are you doing!” Kagome's gaze darted to Kisa and she nearly growled.

“Take Kuro, you worry about keeping him safe.” She pulled the baby from her back and forced him into Kisa's arms before shoving her down the road. She turned back on the fight and took a moment to think about how to go about stopping the melee.

It went without saying, that she could scare Taishi's Samurai a lot easier because they knew her. Her plan decided she yanked her monk's staff free from her necklace and rushed toward the men. A shout made all of the samurai freeze and look at her. She grinned and a few well placed smacks with her staff and samurai from both side's lay on the ground stunned.

“If you don't stop fighting I'm going to start burning people.”

Taishi's samurai scrambled up and bowed to her on one knee. Kagome blinked at them, wary by the show of respect. “Milady we have found you, please return back to the castle with us.”

She raised an eyebrow before completely ignoring them and looking to the other group of samurai.

“Y-You!”

“Yup a girl kicked your ass, now why are you on this land. You come into this village and eat them out of house and home then you'll leave and they'll be left to suffer. You're not Taishi's soldiers and this is his land.”

They simply stared at her rather speechless, “You commoner whore, who do you think you-” before he could finish his sentence his throat was slit and Kagome could only stare stunned as the opposing samurai slid to the ground. She blinked at the blue clad samurai mildly impressed and very horrified.

“Why did you kill him?” she asked weakly staring at the quickly bleeding out body.

“Milady as your loyal samurai I could not tolerate Sagisoto's soldiers speaking to you in such a way, they are beneath you.”

Kagome's mind had to reboot a few times before she could respond.

“M-My samurai?” she squeaked aloud. “You have got to be shitting me; I'm trying to break ties with that baka. You aren't my Samurai,” she sputtered frantically.

She turned to the scowling members of Taishi's army.

“You're Sagisoto's men? Why are you here!” she snapped.

They merely glared at her and Kagome rubbed her temple.

“Milady may we arrest them?”

Kagome shot them a dark glance, “I'm not you're mistress, stop talking to me like that. Do what you like.”

She turned a narrow eyed glare on the three monks who damn near fell over cowering. Kagome walked to them and eyed the three men who stared at her stupidly. “You're looking for something and it's not here. Still you're working for Sagisoto who's been causing a lot of grief, why shouldn't I ask these nice samurai to lock you up in their dungeons”

“W-Who are you?”

Kagome smacked him on the head with her staff and he yelled angrily clutching at the red indent splayed across his baldhead.

“I asked you a question first,” she huffed irritably.

Another of the monks quickly stepped up to answer her, “Sagisoto-sama demanded that any monk from our temple that could sense the Kami be given to his cause or he promised to destroy our temple.” Kagome nodded already having figured as much.

“What Kami are you searching for exactly, there's more than one right?” they paused as if considering what to tell her.

“The Kami from the Temple of the Light was killed, he has just been reborn and we were to retrieve him,” Kagome clenched her teeth and her heart began to ache.

She closed her eyes and looked away `Kuro….'

Now that she had the infant, she was very sure that he was Kuro. Nobody was going to harm him while he was in her care.

“I don't know who you're talking about but this Kami isn't in the area, the baby with me just has strong spiritual powers, I'm protecting him from youkai that would eat him.” She said sternly a hard edge in her voice.

“Now you're going to leave here and if you come back I'll kill you myself. If you're brave enough you can go tell Sagisoto that his samurai were captured but I wouldn't try it. He sounds like the kind of man who would decapitate you if he caught you and you gave such an excuse.”

The monks paled, “We have no choice. For the safety of our temple we will return to Sagisoto and tell him we have found nothing and the samurai fell in battle,” he shot a glance at the three men standing stiffly with blades to their throats.

She pressed her lips together angrily, “and what good will it do your temple if you go tell him you have failed, he kills you all then goes after the temple to destroy it anyway.” The monks stared at her a long moment but said nothing, they knew they were going to be executed.

“Milady-”she spun around to stare at Taishi's samurai who flinched at her cold gaze.

“Why do you keep calling me that? Don't you get it, I'm the reason your master is dead,” there was a tense silence and the samurai leveled her with a stare.

“You are Taishi-sama's wife and he had no further relatives. You are our ruler now whether you are the reason for his death or not. The youkai killed him, you did not milady.”

Kagome clenched her fist, “But it's still my fault, I'm the reason that man is dead.”

“You are our ruler milady,” he said again in a gentler voice, “If you feel you are at fault you should take responsibility and rule as best you can over the people of this land.” Kagome swallowed thickly looking thoroughly defeated.

“I-”she suddenly felt ill and it showed in her face. She took a moment to collect her breath, “I'm not getting out of this am I?”

The samurai seemed to sigh, “No milady we have explicit orders to return you to the castle safely so you may take your place as ruler.”

Kagome ran a hand down her face then straitened. She took a deep breath and looked to the three red and orange clad monks. “Return to your temple and tell them what's happened. When it comes time I will help you as best I can even if I have no army I will fight,” she smiled weakly.

“How can we trust you? All nobles seem to want is extra power and wealth,” the last monk asked bitterly. Kagome swallowed and stood deep in thought, “I should probably stop hiding this mark if I want you to listen…” she untied the scarf covering her forehead and hair and pulled it away to let her hair fall free. She tucked her locks of hair behind her ears, “This should be all the proof you need,” She said sternly.

The oldest monk with them dropped to his knees in shock, “Your holiness.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, “This stays among you three, find your own way to convince the elders of the temple to believe my offer. If they don't that's not my fault.”

They got down and bowed to her. Kagome could have banged her head against a wall. “Get out of here,” she ordered as her staff shrunk in her hand. The monks ran away to fulfill the new mission assigned to them.

Kagome turned to look at the Samurai with her. She felt exhausted and more than a little ill. Something caught her attention and she turned to see at least ten villagers standing in the street openly gapping at her. Among those few, were Kisa, Yumi, and Anai. She groaned and bowed her head in defeat. The samurai went about getting ready for the trip back, which first meant they had to gather their horses and tie the prisoners up securely.

She took a deep breath and stepped forward. Kagome paused again and hesitated a moment longer before walking over to Kisa. She smiled weakly, “You don't have to worry about him any longer Kisa-san, he's going with me,” she said gently taking the baby in her arms.

Kagome smiled seeing the child wide eyed and staring at nothing as if he could see with those bright grey eyes of his.

“Kagome-san is really a Hime?”

Kagome's gaze darted to Anai who was staring up at her in awe and fear.

Kagome bent down and gave the girl a hug. Anai simply stood there stunned. Kagome pulled away and stood. She smiled weakly at the girl and adjusted the infant in her arms. Kagome gave a slight bow then turned and walked away. Shippou was standing a little further down the road next to Miyami.

Kagome bowed to Miyami who smiled weakly at the younger woman.

“Is it time to go Kaa-san?” Kagome nodded absently.

“Yeah, I think we're done here.”

XXXXXX

Part 2 coming soon. Read and Review.