InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Peace Treaty ❯ Kagome ( Chapter 4 )

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

Taka and Sakiko had been searching the grounds of the Sisterhood for nearly an hour. Kaede had told them of the meeting with Lady Tokuhoshi and General Miyamoto and that Kagome would need their support.

“Taka, I'm starting to get worried.”

“Sakiko, you're always worried. If we can't find Kagome, it probably means she doesn't want to be found. Her whole life has been shaken; I'm sure she's just trying to center herself.”

“Do you think she could have fled?”

“When have you ever known Kagome to run away from anything?” Taka answered pointedly.

Sakiko didn't get an opportunity to respond, because Kagome ran up calling out their names.

Sakiko burst into tears. “Oh Kagome, I can't believe this is happening to you!”

“So you've heard the good news then?” Kagome said dryly. Though she was a sweet girl, Sakiko had a gift for saying the most inappropriate thing at precisely the wrong time.

“Kaede told us,” Taka said. “She's given us permission to skip the remainder of our duties today.”

“Kagome, you must be so frightened!” Sakiko said, still crying. “Married to a Youkai! It's too terrifying to even think about. I don't know how you can bear it.”

Taka shot her friend a dark look. “Sakiko, please. You're not helping.”

“It's alright. Frightened is not exactly the feeling of the moment. I'm furious,” Kagome said. “Look, is there anywhere we can go? Somewhere quiet?”

“The common room of our dormitory is usually empty at this time of day,” Taka said.

The common room of the dormitory which housed miko who had reached the age of majority was clean and cozy, the floors littered with cushions and pillows on which to sit and several low tables with oil-burning lamps. When the three young women had sat down, Kagome took a deep breath.

“Yes, I'm really angry. I keep wondering if there's something I can do to fight my way out of this. It's not fair!” she said. The sting of the injustice had not abated, despite the calm she felt at the Shrine. “It wasn't supposed to happen this way. All that work and training, and I'm so close to taking my vows. I feel like...such a pawn.” Kagome sighed and looked at her friends. “I know I should try to accept this. But every time I force my mind to admit to what's happening, I get so unbearably sad. I'd rather be angry.” S

Sakiko began to cry again. “Kagome, I just feel so bad for you. To have to leave your friends and family, well I know you don't have any family, but still...to have to go live among strangers. Youkai strangers! They're so frightening and ugly. What if they're cruel? What if-”

“Sakiko please stop! Right now I'm merely swimming in self-pity. I'd rather not drown in it.”

“Well if you need to feel sorry someone, feel sorry for me,” said Taka, reaching out and grasping Kagome's hand. “I'm losing my best friend.”

Kagome squeezed back. “Shit! Taka, don't say lose. I don't plan on being lost.” She fought back the sour feeling of panic. “Can we talk about something else, anything else?”

At that moment the door flew open and a rumpled-looking miko burst into the room. “Oh thank the Moon I've found you! I was hoping you'd be here. Help me hide this stuff.” The miko was awkwardly carrying four bottles.

“Kita, what is all this?” Taka asked as they lay the bottles under a pillow in the corner.

“Okay, after I heard, I cut out of my geography lesson…Lady Kashi is going to murder me. I snuck into Lady Yamada's rooms and stole all the wine I could get my hands on. She's got the best stash you know-her brother being a vintner and all.”

“So you know?” asked Kagome.

“Kagome, practically everyone knows,” the miko said. “Gossip is about as common as tits around here. Anyway...oh yeah. I heard, and I asked myself Fuuuuck…what if it were me? and answered myself Get ass-drunk. So here I am, with the best drink I could pilfer. Shit, does anyone have any glasses?”

Kita's three friends stared at her, mouths hanging open; she was a bit like a whirlwind. “I'll go get some,” said Taka.

“Better get a bunch. Fuji and Emiko are on their way, and Kaori is coming as soon as she finishes in the infirmary. There will be more later too.”

“Ah...I'm not sure I can handle this,” Kagome said hesitantly.

“Of course you can. This is your last night here. If you had received your service orders and were leaving, we'd have a party. This is just...slightly different circumstances. We are here to keep you company, entertain you, and distract you.”

Kagome managed a weak smile. “You're right, I guess.”

“Of course I'm right. Now where are those glasses?”

XXXXX

Two hours later the small group had grown, as did the noise level. Another miko walked in with three more bottles. “Maki!” they cheered.

“Hey we need to keep it down a little. I just raided Lady Yamada's secret stockpile of wine. I'd rather not get caught until I've had a chance to catch up to you.” She glanced at the women and smirked. “And by the looks of you, I've got quite a bit of catching up to do.”

“Wait,” Kita said, “Lady Yamada has a secret stockpile! Where?”

“If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret,” Maki answered with a sly wink.

“Ume, can you put up some kind of barrier in front of the door?” Taka asked. “It may not stop them, but it might slow them down long enough for us to hide the evidence.”

A short, slight miko rose and went to the entrance of the common room. “Sure! I may stink at fighting, but at least I can do barriers right.”

“I sure would love to have had your company when I went after the geography exam answers,” said Kita.

“Yeah, if I recall correctly,” Taka said with a laugh, “you would have been expelled if Kagome hadn't convinced Kaede you only meant to take the exam without the answers, so you could use it as, what was it, a `study guide.'”

“And I still believe in my heart of hearts that's exactly what you would have done,” laughed Kagome.

“Kagome kept me from being expelled once too,” Sakiko said.

“Is that when you brought in that pregnant stray cat from the village?” asked another miko.

“Fuji, I didn't know she was pregnant. I just thought she was chubby.”

“A chubby stray?” Fuji said. “Strays are usually thin and mean.”

“How about that time Hotaru dressed that village boy up in her clothes and smuggled him into her room,” a miko named Emiko said. “I thought they'd execute her, not expel her.”

Taka groaned remembering the drama. “Well she probably would have succeeded if it weren't for that bitch, Leiko. What a humiliating way to lose your virginity.”

Kagome giggled. “I guess she got over her embarrassment. She's got four children now. I try to visit her whenever I'm in the village.”

“Since we are sharing stories about Kagome,” Ume said, “I've got one. Kagome actually saved my life.”

“Oh Ume, don't exaggerate. You would have been fine.”

“No really,” she protested, eager to tell. “We were partnered during survival training three years ago. It started as a disaster and just got worse. I forgot to sharpen and fully charge my knife before we left, my flint box was missing its striker, the topography maps were really confusing, but Lady Kashi scared the shit out of me, so I was too afraid to ask her to clarify, and, oh what else, I didn't check the contents of my medical kit, which was almost out of bandages and suture string. Maki, can you fill me up?” Ume extended her glass. “So they basically dumped us in the middle of a swamp. We made it to higher, drier ground, and Kagome said she'd go get some food, if I could make a fire. So I went to find some wood. I found some that was perfect. It was really dried out, to make shavings to spark a fire, then use the rest as kindling. I started back to the spot we'd found, but I got completely turned around. The sun was getting low and the air was rapidly cooling, so I thought, with my shoes and clothes from the knee down more or less completely soaked, if I didn't get a fire going I'd be in real trouble. The problem was my knife was too dull to make shavings. `That's okay I'll just find some dry leaves,' I said to myself. Well, wet leaves were everywhere, dry ones, not so much. Finally I found some I thought would work, but when I opened my flint box, I saw the striker wasn't in it. That's when the panic set in. Kagome found me right before I crawled out of my skin.”

They laughed and refilled their glasses.

“Okay she got me back to the fire she'd built, we ate the food she caught, and I started to warm up, dry out, and calm down. I thought it was all going to work out. Until the next day. We started to patrol the area for Youkai. There was a lot of ground to cover, so we separated. It didn't take long for me to get lost, then not much longer before I tripped over a tree root and gashed my leg on a rock.”

“Always graceful,” said Taka, barely suppressing a smile.

“It was deep and bleeding like mad. I opened up my med kit and saw I barely had any suture string. So I used all the bandages to wrap it. Unfortunately the blood soaked right through in no time at all, and, knowing the scent would draw out every Youkai in the area, I did what every sensible miko with my lack of talent would do: I ran through the woods screaming Kagome's name.”

Kagome laughed. “I heard you and thought you were being attacked. I ran in the direction of the screaming and saw you were fine. You looked so relieved when I told you to shut up that I thought you were going to piss yourself. Then I saw the Youkai.”

“This group of ten or so frog Youkai,” continued Ume, “were coming fast from the direction of the swamp. Kagome reached me just in time, knife drawn for combat. I drew my own knife, but it barely had any charge at all. My panic and blood loss prevented me from drawing on my own energy to compensate, so my knife basically did as much damage to the Youkai as it had on the wood the night before. I was convinced death was imminent when Kagome yelled-”

“Throw up a barrier, you dumb-ass!” Kagome shouted with a wide grin. “And I guess you had an energy reserve, because it was the best barrier in the history of barriers. I had time to draw my bow and with one arrow took care of the remaining Youkai.”

“And that is the story of how Kagome saved my worthless hide,” said Ume proudly.

“I was only doing what any partner would have done.”

“Thank the Moon herself you did it so well.”

“Ow, fuck!” There was a tired, upset voice coming from the hall. “Is there a barrier up or something?”

“Oh sorry Kaori, I'm coming,” said Ume, getting up.

Another miko entered, looking exhausted. “I've been at the infirmary all day. Is that wine? The village midwife had a woman whose unborn baby wasn't head down, and she couldn't turn it, so they came here. Footling breech. Not pretty. In fact it was probably one of the most difficult births at which I've ever assisted. They made it though. A couple times I didn't think they both would. Lady Hino actually brought the instruments, but fortunately she didn't have to use them. The poor woman probably won't be having any more children.”

“Well at least since miko rarely marry, none of us will ever have to worry about childbirth,” said Sakiko.

There was a sudden, dead silence, and all looked at Kagome.

“Oh Kagome, I'm sorry. I didn't think-”

“That's your problem Sakiko,” Taka said angrily, “you don't ever think before you speak.”

“It's okay. I'm okay,” said Kagome.

“Should I recreate the barrier?” asked Ume.

“I don't think it's necessary,” said Kaori. “Lady Kaede gave an order that we should be left to ourselves.”

“I hope she's feeling as charitable tomorrow,” Kita muttered. They were breaking an unprecedented number of rules.

“Is this a private party or is anyone allowed to attend?” They turned to see an unwanted addition.

“Leiko! We are saying good bye to Kagome,” Sakiko said. “Come have a drink with us.”

Several miko groaned.

“I guess it's true what I heard then,” Leiko said, walking up to Kagome. “You all seem surprisingly happy about it. If it were I, I would feel like a traitor to our kind. I think I would rather kill myself than go live with Youkai. To have to sleep with one, be touched by him, to have children that by their very natures are abominations...I'd prefer death.”

Taka jumped up, her hand radiant with energy. “Say one more word, bitch, and I'll satisfy your death wish.”

“Taka stop. Kaede wouldn't be able to forgive a fight in the common room so easily. It's not worth it,” Kaori cautioned. “Leiko, you're not welcome here if you're going to be so abrasive.”

Leiko smirked and sniffed in disgust as she strode out of the room.

“Kagome don't pay her any mind. She's just a power-hungry cow who's always been jealous of you,” Taka said.

“I know.” Kagome smiled, though they all knew the words had struck deeply. “Look, it's getting late and we've all had a lot to drink. It's going to be hard enough to sleep; I think the more time I get the better. I haven't left the Shrine apart from survival training and apprenticeships in nine years. I'm going to miss you all so much.”

Kagome's friends spent the next hour hugging her, offering reassurance, and cleaning up their mess. Then with kisses and tears they left one by one, until only Taka and Kagome remained.

“Kagome, what am I going to do without you? I feel sorry for myself, but it's so stupid and selfish comparatively.”

“Taka, you're strong. We'll be okay eventually.”

There was a long, sad pause.

“What do you think he'll be like?” Taka asked.

“I don't know. Other than he's Taiyoukai, they haven't told me anything. I don't even know his name.”

“Kagome,” Taka took her hands and looked into her eyes, her own filling with tears, “you know I love you.”

“Taka...” Kagome hugged her. “I know, dear friend. You'll survive. We always do. Will you see me off tomorrow morning?”

“I wouldn't miss it,” Taka said, voice cracking. “I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now. Good night.”

“Good night, Taka. See you in the morning.” Kagome stepped out of the dormitory. The grounds were bathed in silvery light from the half moon. Kagome sighed shakily and drank in the much-loved sight. This had been her home, her sanctuary for almost half her life. She had known happiness here. She would miss it.