InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Three Oaths ❯ The Protector Part I ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: this is a fictional story written only for my personal amusement. I own nothing, Rumiko Takahashi owns all.

 

~The Protector Part I~

 

The alarm clock chimed for the second time that morning, a piercing riiiing, riing! that was effective in that it was too annoying to ignore. Kagome curled up tighter beneath her faded pink duvet, reluctant to move from the soft sheets. Bright yellow sunlight heralding the start of a blissful summer filtered in through the veil-like drapes covering the windows, and at once she felt morose.

 

Summer.

 

A period of more than two months of endless free time spent wasting away doing nothing. She only had about three weeks left of school before summer vacation and she was determined to savour ever last day. Not that she was worried about being bored, Oh no. Kagome was more than certain that Eri, or at least Yuka had already organised a detailed schedule to keep her entertained all through the whole holiday.

 

With that depressing thought in mind, she got up, sighing heavily when the switch on her alarm refused to turn off. The clock had been picked up several months ago by her mother while she was still time-travelling, to help add some semblance of normalcy to her odd lifestyle. Now it was only another prop in her sparsely decorated bedroom; thanks to Inuyasha's loud pre-dawn awakenings, she'd been wide awake long before the first chime.

 

Kagome winced as that familiar scar, re-opened by his name, sought to sear its way through her body. She pushed it from her mind, a sharp frown on her face, fully determined to leave him and everything that came with him at rest. She'd open that particular can of worms when she could.

 

Briskly she went to the bathroom for her morning rituals. It didn't take long to get ready for school. A few minutes freshing up in the bathroom and another few getting dressed and then she was set, saying a quick goodbye to her mom and grandpa and running from her house, a large satchel in one hand, and a small sandwich in the other.

 

She didn't look back at her house as she ran; she'd made that mistake the first day and had caught sight of two chilling blue eyes watching her go, making her mouth go dry and her stomach do little flip-flops of fear. It was better to ignore her, Kagome decided, keeping a steady pace down the never-ending shrine steps. If she could pretend that she didn't exist then she could carry on with her life as normal, or as normal as it had been before she'd arrived.

 

But Kagome was beginning to discover that ignoring the presence of a thousand year old miko-goddess when she was sleeping in the guest room beside yours was proving none too easy. Or when she was comfortably meshed in between your mother and brother on the three-man sofa, leaving Kagome no choice but to squat painfully on the floor if she wanted to watch TV. In the five days that she'd been staying there, no words had been spoken between them since the argument when Kagome had found out her current house-guest was a living legend, and had scuttled away upstairs to the safety of her room in shock.

 

Midoriko, ancient priestess, creator of the Jewel of the Four Souls otherwise known as the Shikon No Tama, and a woman who'd been supposedly dead for over several centuries. It was totally, indisputably, undeniably ridiculous to assume she was telling the truth. But Kagome was far too scared that she was to even try to deny the claim. From what she knew, the Lady Midoriko was a stunning priestess with a brilliant mind and a disconcerting aptitude for purification. Apparently it had been her life's mission to eradicate the scourge of evil demons from the world, and it was on that dangerous path that she'd made the Jewel in the first place. Nothing Kagome had ever heard would have lead her to believe that the priestess was still up and kicking, roaming around of her free will; like everyone else she'd just assumed either death had taken her or she'd fallen afoul of some demon somewhere. The details weren't really relevant.

 

But to find out that such a powerful miko still lived, and was lodging in her house no less, was truly the sugar-topped icing on the cake. She shivered, remembering how she'd envied the beauty in her fair face, the charming innocence made visible in sleep. Like Kikyo, her prettiness was the guise of a more frightening character beneath. But both bore that trademark stamp of approval that labelled them as competent and powerful, worthy of the title Miko. She in comparison was weak, spineless and incapable of doing anything right. It was no wonder that the woman had gazed at her with such utter loathing in her face; she was far prettier, stronger, and older and yet looked just as good- no better- than Kagome did.

 

Which was, Kagome decided, crossing the busy road to reach the crowded pavement opposite, disturbingly odd to think about.

 

Logic, and her own nightmarish Feudal experiences had taught her that no human being could achieve immortality by any normal means (she thought of Naraku's inner demons and barely stopped herself from shuddering) which either meant that Midoriko was not quite human, or that she had found a safely unthreatening way to live forever, which still, in the end, pointed towards her being something not quite normal. Suddenly Kagome was filled with an overwhelming fear for her family that she'd left at home, unprotected and unsafe. How did she know she could trust her? Just because she was a priestess didn't mean she was good, after all, Kikyo had been an evil bitch at the best of times, and at the worst she'd been no better than an un-dead thing, as undeserving of respect and kindness as the evil demons she killed. What if she decided to hurt someone? Her grandpa? Her mom? Souta??!

 

Her heart clenched inside with worry. The memory of Midoriko's sweetly slumbering form only seemed sinister to her now. Just think, she could be killing them now, torturing them horribly…she winced, shutting her eyelids against the painful images. God! Don't think, don't think, don't think…She tried to drive her fear away but her body refused to listen and her breathing came out in short, panicked gasps. She knew her family would be helpless against any supernatural threat Midoriko might pose against them. Sure her grandpa liked to throw ofudas and stuff at the first sign of attack, but this was against a trained priestess, for goodness sake! It would be like tossing scrunched up toilet paper to stem the flow of a water fall! Not to mention that if she really was the creator of the jewel, with enough power to create the jewel, well…that brought things to mind that didn't bear thinking of.

 

She stopped to an abrupt halt in the middle of the street, causing a flurry of disgruntled pedestrians to swerve round her angrily.

 

Okay, okay, chill out Kagome, she chanted to herself. This is gonna be fine. Nothing's gonna happen, everything's gonna be alright…she recited the mantra over and over to herself repeatedly, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

 

Eventually the heavy pounding in her chest slowed to a mild thrumming; the silky veil of panic that had momentarily blinded her senses lifted, and she found that she could breathe. She inhaled, feeling the forceful whoosh of air as it filled her lungs before releasing, more slowly this time, as she savoured the moment.

 

After a while she resumed her stroll again feeling a bit foolish and more than a little self-conscious. Talk about insecurities! She shook her head, embarrassed by her own short-comings. Her mind had jumped too quickly to conclusions and because of that, she'd almost had a panic-attack in the middle of central Tokyo! Prickles of heat crept unhurriedly into her cheeks, filling them with a lasting heat that burned. Just imagine…if someone had seen her…!

 

Because of course there was no logical explanation to say that Midoriko was an enemy at all. She was still dangerous - there was no use denying that - but that was no reason to believe that her family were in any danger in her company. After all, this was the sixth day since she'd arrived and nothing untoward had happened at all. In fact, Midoriko had been more than pleasant to her family, successfully charming the pants off her grandpa by laughing at his old man jokes and making waves with her mother in the kitchen when she helped out with the cooking. Even Souta had succumbed, eagerly watching when Midoriko offered to perform several magic tricks for his amusement. Not that she could do much. Her injuries had left her more or less confined to one place at a time, forcing her to rely on the personal hospitality of whosoever was in the room with her if she wanted to move around.

 

Kagome made sure it was never her.

 

But even though she avoided Midoriko, there were times when courtesy demanded they speak. Thankfully at the dinner-table, Souta was still determined to withdraw from her everything she knew about demons, while her grandfather contented himself with bombarding her with questions on incantations and spells. Between the two of them there was hardly any room for her to make polite conversation, and even if Midoriko had wanted to talk, she was too bogged down with questions to find answers of her own. Still, Kagome couldn't help feeling slightly inadequate once she saw how interested her family were about things from the Past. She'd never realised how fascinated they were, never bothered to ask them if there was anything they wanted know. Now of course, it was the Great Lady who was getting all the attention for her knowledge, providing answers that even she could have given.

 

She crossed the street, noticing the roads had become less packed as the minutes passed until finally she was rounding an almost empty corner, nearing her high school. Kagome's eyes quickly scanned the perimeter for any sign of the `destructive duo' and sighed in honest relief when she didn't see them. Then she sighed again, guiltily this time. In truth she was slightly ashamed of the way she treated her friends. Even to her warped sense of mind it seemed odd that she was so eager to avoid the company of her so-called `Best Friends Forever!!!!!' but frankly she couldn't help but find them a bit overwhelming. She'd been close to Eri and Yuka for years without any problems but these days she found that she couldn't spend more than an hour at a time in their presence without losing her ever present civility and lashing out. She really couldn't help it- they were just so annoying!

 

Kagome felt angry tension coil upwards in her stiff arms and relaxed, easing the pain away. She reached up a hand to sweep aside the stray locks covering her eyes that were - annoyingly enough - blocking her sight, and felt her whole body collide with something hard. A wall.

 

"Oww..."

 

A laugh from behind sent her head whirling in that direction. "Hey! Be careful there, Kagome. We wouldn't want you getting back in the hospital so soon after your recovery now would we?" Hojo stepped up beside her, cradling her shoulders in a steady grip.

 

"Oh, hi, Hojo, it's you." She said, trying not to sound as dejected as she felt. Kagome rubbed her sore head with as minimal pressure as possible, cursing herself inwardly. In her distraction she'd completely forgotten Hojo's promise to meet her at the gates every morning before and after school, and had walked right past him unseeingly. Yeah. Straight into a wall...

 

Kagome winced at the pain, peering at him from the corner of her eye. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she thought to herself firmly, or that she resented his attentions - after all she was lucky, most guys she knew wouldn't go near her with a ten-foot pole - it was more that every time she heard his young man's laughter, so boyish and calm, or felt the warm touch of his hand upon her skin, she couldn't help but remember another boy's soft smile that appeared oh-so rarely and which she cherished all the more for it. In those moments, time froze over in her mind, incapacitating her body and rendering her completely her useless. For one long second, she was once again with the boy that had broken her heart.

 

He frowned at her in slight puzzlement. "Of course it's me, Kagome, who were you expecting?" Then before she could answer he spoke again, bending to pick up her fallen rucksack. "Here let me help you with that," he smiled amiably at her protests and held the bag high beyond her reach. "Ready to go?"

 

She sighed, giving in with ill grace, and followed him into the school, wishing not for the first time that her tastes lay with kind-hearted schoolboys instead of a certain brash, insensitive hanyou.

 

---

 

Finally it was over.

 

When the final bell rang signalling the end of class, Kagome smiled in relief but didn't move. In a strange lazy sort of way, she realised that she was just too comfortable where she was to even bother arranging her textbooks and stationery to pack into her schoolbag. She'd done nothing all day but sit down in her seat and stare out the window adjacent to her desk - a perfect seat arrangement, she thought gratefully, thanks to Sanada-sensei, of course - except during P.E, when she was forced to participate in a meaningless game of hockey that ended sooner than expected after Kagome had been knocked into the gym wall again, and was forced to sit out for the rest of the hour. Which was fine really, because it meant that she could use the time staring into space daydreaming again until the end of the lesson. Perfect.

 

All in all it had been a surprisingly enjoyable day. Entirely unproductive of course, but enjoyable nonetheless. Besides, she was well aware that she had plenty of time over summer to make up for her poor grades and even if that didn't work, it wasn't like she cared about graduating anyway. All the things she'd ever wanted for her future were far out of reach now, so what did it matter if she was flunking school?

 

She grimaced, feeling her spirits lowering considerably. Great, just when she was having a good time she had to go and depress herself with memories. Uurgh, it was enough to make her want to scream! Or cry, whichever one came first. She slunk lower in her chair, wondering why she almost never felt happy anymore. Maybe I should go see a shrink. I'm depressed enough, right? She thought sullenly. But then what would I tell him? In her mind she pictured the movies she'd seen where the depressed teenager was forced to bare his or her soul to the friendly neighbourhood psychiatrist as a mode of `therapy'. That would go well - Oh yeah, basically I'm upset `cause my half demon boyfriend, who wasn't really my boyfriend just this guy I kissed once, decided to dump me for his ex, this un-dead priestess chick whose soul I just happen to have stolen during birth, and now I'll never see him again because he lives in the Past with a whole other bunch of manic power hungry demons, some of whom eat humans for fun…

 

Uh-huh, she snorted despite herself, picturing the white straight jackets they'd force her in and bare windowless rooms. She could see that going down real well.

 

“Ahhhh,” she groaned and sat up straight, stretching her arms out behind her. She was still sorely tempted to just stay there sitting at her desk for as long as she could. Just a little bit longer…An hour, three hours? All night?? It could work, she considered. At least until the janitor came and kicked her out. Grinning, she quickly packed up her stuff and left the now empty classroom to follow the remaining students out onto the school grounds where Hojo was waiting patiently.

 

Crap! And he's not alone… she realised a second too late exactly which two girls were standing next to him, and they'd already seen her so she couldn't go back. “Hey guys! Sorry, I took so long. How was your day?” Kagome addressed all three but aimed her question at Hojo in particular, hoping that he would intercept the tirade that she knew was coming.

 

It seemed that her good day had ended. Before Kagome's last words had even left her lips, Yuka's mouth was wide open, her eyes set in a disapproving frown. “Kaggggooome!” she whined, making Hojo wince. “We haven't seen you in like a year. Where have you been?”

 

“Yeah, Kagoooomee!” Eri was normally the better of the two but apparently she was also in a high strop. “What's with you lately? We like never see you!” She stamped a little foot in childish rage.

 

Considering that they were supposed to be her closest friends, Kagome swallowed the instinctive retort of `Noooo! Ya think?!' and tried to come up with something to appease them. Luckily Hojo stepped in to the rescue, politely urging them to get moving else they'd be stuck at school till nightfall. They started walking down the empty street in silence; however Yuka was nothing if not persistent.

 

“Look Kagome,” she said, flicking her hair out behind her. “I'm just saying. We're your best friends and everything and yet we hardly ever spend time with you. What's so important that you've gotta blow us off all the time?”

 

“I don't-” she cut off abruptly at the sharp look of reproof Yuka directed her way.

 

“Yes, Kagome you do. And you don't even give good explanations when you can't hang out with us; you just say `school' or `homework'. But it can't be that because I'm taking mostly the same classes as you and I never have that much work!”

 

“I mean,” Eri continued where Yuka left off, “It's not like you're sick anymore - you're completely healthy now. The least you could do is take advantage of it and come out and have fun with us.”

 

“Eri!” Hojo scolded loudly, looking utterly scandalised. It was Hojo's belief that no one should ever mention the many `sicknesses' that had supposedly incapacitated her during those months spent in the feudal era, thinking that she might become traumatised if reminded. He had always been entirely sympathetic towards Kagome during the few days when she actually returned to school and considered her very brave for dealing with what she'd been through. She wasn't too surprised, considering the high fatality risk of the many illnesses she had acquired (stupid, stupid Grandpa!!!) and had worried for a while about what she would say to people when they eventually asked her about them. But she had been pleased to find upon re-entering the school, that the subject had been almost taboo amongst the other students thanks to Hojo's influence, and that the teaching staff had also made sure that she wouldn't be bothered with embarrassing questions she didn't have the answers to.

 

“It's the truth,” she sniffed, looking not in the least repentant, making Kagome re-evaluate her assessment of who was the nicer girl.

 

Yuka stopped and turned to face her, eyes reflecting some hidden emotion she didn't have the energy to consider. “Kagome, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you didn't want to spend time with us anymore. That you didn't want to be our friends.” Now they both looked at her expectantly, faces expressing incalculable hurt when she remained silent.

 

But wouldn't it be better if she just said nothing, though? If she just let them go? She wasn't truly their friend anyway, not in the way they wanted her to be, and that was what they were really asking for. Was it fair to use them like that just so that she could appear normal to the outside world? So people didn't walk up to her with proffered straight-jackets and prescribing happy pills? But then again, she noted sadly, she wasn't exactly sure how to be their friend again, wasn't sure if she could try. It had been easier before when there was nothing to compare them with; just ordinary fifteen year olds doing normal everyday things. But she was changed now - and Eri was no Sango, no matter how fierce she had become. Kagome felt a headache coming on and resisted the urge to massage her head. She needed to fix this situation right now, while things were still salvageable.

 

“Guys,” she stated softly, ignoring Hojo who looked distinctly uncomfortable to be caught in the middle of a girl-fight. “I'm sorry. I-I'm just, I-I don't…” She inhaled sharply, the cool air clearing her head. “It's just that I'm going through some stuff right now and it's taking me a hard time to get over it.” It was easier to fake emotion if she stuck to the truth. “I really can't explain and I'm sorry for not being around but I haven't exactly been myself, and I didn't think you'd want me around if I was acting weird anyway.” When neither of them reacted, she grew a bit panicked, reaching out to grab each of their hands before they could pull away.

 

“I-I honestly didn't mean to hurt you guys, I just needed some time to myself for a while. You understand, right? Eri? Yuka?” she tugged frantically on their arms trying to see the expressions beneath their lowered heads. God! What if they didn't forgive her?!

 

“I'm sorry,” her words were so quiet they were near inaudible, but Kagome saw a faint twitch in Yuka's left cheek. “You'll still be my best friends, right?”

 

“Of course we will, silly!” Eri giggled happily, no longer able to continue the pretence of anger. Yuka gave her a mildly irritated look, “Honestly, Eri. I told you not to say anything until she started begging!” Then seeing the incredulity in Kagome's face, she laughed outright, grinning madly. “Alright you caught us! We weren't really that upset, we just wanted to have some fun with you, so don't be angry!” and then she burst into another fit of wild giggles. Kagome turned her head at the sound of male chuckles to see Hojo smiling slightly, also amused at her expense.

 

Surprise was mixed in amongst several other layers of emotions she was feeling, yet the only thought that she could fully process was just…just how annoying they were! Gah!

 

She stomped off alone, wishing she had longer legs so that she could quickly get ahead of them and mesh in with the crowds. As it was, Eri and Yuka lagged behind, but Hojo caught up with her with ease.

 

“Don't be upset,” he slid his palm across her waist in a very un-Hojo like gesture, and then blushed at his apparent boldness. `I'm sorry,” he said releasing her swiftly, “I didn't mean to-I...I just wanted to comfort you.” He finished lamely, a high flush lighting up pale skin.

 

She couldn't help it, she smiled. He was just so different to what she was used to that it was inconceivable that she could ever fall for him.

 

“Don't worry Hojo,” her voice was gentle enough that he met her gaze nervously. “I'm alright.”

 

For now. Was the unspoken ending to a sentence that held far more insight to her current disposition than she would normally allow. He nodded slowly, as if processing her tone, and she wondered what she would do if he could actually understand.

 

Don't wish for impossible things, Kagome. You know better than that, she told herself, an ancient emptiness curling up inside her. And she did, all too well.

 

---