Disclaimer: I don't own the Inuyasha characters, but I do own the plot. Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kagome was taking full advantage of Inuyasha running off to be with Kikyo by relaxing in a peaceful meadow. A little after Inuyasha had run off to ‘hunt’ she had excused herself saying she wanted to go practice, and of course the others thought that she was running off to either cry, or spy on Inuyasha. They didn’t seem to understand that she didn’t think of Inuyasha that way. She only saw him as an annoying brother, younger with the way he acts, but older in age.
Actually the only ones who understood her were Shippo and Kilala. Not even Sango with all their girl talk understands her, sure she thinks she does, but Sango’s too wrapped up in her own worries to bother to really pay attention to her. Everytime Kagome tries to talk about something serious with her, Sango somehow inturrupts and turns the conversation to herself.
Miroku was trying to keep his spirits up with Naraku having that annoying ability to getaway at the last moment. Sometimes Kagome would catch him staring at his Wind Tunnel, with such a dark and serious look on his face. She would always try to do something especially nice when she noticed, but it always seemed to backfire on her somehow. No not with Miroku, she could see that he appreciated it, but with Sango and Inuyasha. Man those two can get so jealous and annoying when they don’t feel like they are the center of attention.
Now the real reason Kagome was in the meadow was something so simple, yet seemed to cause so many arguments int their camp. She had left to practice her bow and to do some exercise that was suppose to help her become stronger. Not that you could really tell with the fact that nobody let her fight. Of course she hated that she had to do this in secret, but nobody would teach her how to fight. She had asked Sango to teach her to become an demonslayer, but nothing had come out of it yet. Either she was told later when they had more time, or had the subject changed on her. She had tried to ask Miroku for some Miko leasons, but after learning that Monks and Mikos where taught differently and the only things they had in common where the basics, which she had already learned from Keade, that idea had been dropped. It was getting really annoying how people were forcing her into the damsel-in-distress position. She hated that position with a passion, but with Inuyasha being Inuyasha and not letting her be in one place for more than a day, three at most when she was able to convince, with lots of sits mixed in, to let her go home. She can’t even take some self-defense classes in her time, she had looked. They either cost way to much, or they demanded a mandatory amount of time in their class, and with trying to teach herself from her textbooks, and studing for her test when she finally is able to get home, going to another class just isn’t possible.
She was taking a break from her secret workout, not that anybody noticed that her aim was now topnotch. She can split her own arrows at two hundred paces! But do the other’s notice, nope. As Inuyasha is only to happy to scream everytime he ‘has to protect her weak ningen ass’ she could never be as good as Kikyo.
Suddenly a scream pierced the peaceful atmosphere! Bolting up, Kagome tried to use what little knowledge of her power that she knew to locate where it was coming from. Feeling a presence of something, she couldn’t place just what it was, of to the west she grabbed her bow and quiver and took off in that direction. After a five minute fun, she came upon a scene of a thing, it looked like a Youkai, yet the feeling she was getting from it was off. And even though she hadn’t truly been trained in her powers, she knew she could trust her feelings. Deciding that none of it really mattered since the thing was trying to hurt kid.
The kid tripped and the thing loomed over her, raising it’s arm to either kill or capture her. Kagome aimed, and fired her arrow. And as it has become normal, her arrow was surrounded by her miko powers making it look like shooting star. The arrow hit the thing’s chest, purifying it before it had a chance to do more than scream in pain. Running to the girl who was still curled into a ball, Kagome saw that the little girl was Rin! They had a pretty good relationship, because of all the times Sesshomaru and Inuyasha have they’re ‘death matches’ Shippo and Rin would play together.
“Rin! What are you doing here by yourself?! Where’s Jaken, Ah Un, and Sesshomaru?!” Kagome asked while kneeling beside Rin as she starts to uncurl herself now that the danger has passed.
“Kagome-neechan!” Rin hurled herself into Kagome’s arm
“Sshh Rin, you’re ok. Now tell me what happened.”
“Sesshomaru-sama took Ah Un with him on an errand and left Jaken to watch over Rin. Jaken got lost while Rin was looking for some berries to eat. That thing chased Rin saying it was going to eat Rin. Rin was so scared!”
“It’s ok Rin, that thing isn’t going to hurt you. Now lets go find Jaken before Sesshomaru comes back and kills him for getting lost again.”
So said, Kagome and Rin picked themselves up, and after washing Rin’s face so that the youkai (Sesshomaru) wouldn’t be able to smell her tears, they went off in search of the stupid kappa Jaken. After a couple of minutes of searching they found the trail that Rin had left. Following it they found the campsite. Regrettable it was still empty.
“Alright Rin, how about I stay with you until Jaken comes back?”
“Yeah! Kagome-neechan’s staying! Will you play Rin again?!
“Sure Rin. Let’s play”
Not long after Kagome and Rin started playing tag a voice was heard right behind them, making Kagome jump into the air.
“Miko, explain why you are here.” Demanded Sesshomaru, internally grinnning at the fact that she jumped.
Before Kagome could collected her scattered wits, Rin rushed over and hugged Sesshomaru’s legs.
“Sesshomaru-sama! You’ve come back! Rin is happy!”
“Where is Jaken? And you haven’t explained yourself Miko.” Sesshomaru said as he patted Rin’s head.
“Jaken-sama got lost while Rin was looking for berries, and Kagome-neechan saved Rin from a thing that was trying to eat Rin. Kagome-neechan brought Rin back to camp said she would stay with Rin until Jaken got unlost.” Answered Rin for Kagome.
“Hnn”
“Well since you’re here Sesshomaru, I need to be getting back to my own camp, I’ve been gone longer than normal, and I can just imagine the scene Inuyasha will be making if I don’t get back soon. It was nice seeing you again, Rin I’ll see you later okay.” Kagome said while making a little bow.
“Bye Kagome-neechan!”
Kagome started to walk away, when that voice appeared out of thin air again.
“This Sesshomaru is in your debt for saving Rin”
After stopping and blinking a couple of times in shock, Kagome turned around to stare at Sesshomaru.
“That’s okay, you don’t have to be indebt to me. I only did it cause I didn’t want her to get hurt. I don’t expect to be rewarded for doing what’s right, Sesshomaru”
"Hnn. You are an odd ningen." commented Sesshomaru
As Kagome started to walk away again, she got an idea. Stopping and turning back to him she asked, "Sesshomaru, do you know anybody who would be willing to teach me how to fight?"