Voluntary Obligation by Hairann

Now hit me

Title: Now hit me

Author: Hairann

Theme: Instinct

Genre: Drama, Action

AU/CU: Canon

Rating: T

Warnings: Implied violence.

Word Count: 1165

Summary: There once was a priestess who found binding a demon to be the hardest thing she ever had to do. 50 years later another priestess found releasing him to be the easiest. History repeats itself, only this time binding the demon was easy, it was releasing him that proved to be difficult.

Prompt Summary: Kagome's plan is unveiled.

AN: Part 24 of Voluntary Obligation. 

Won third place for the one-shot contest: Instinct

The village men interrupted their shoveling of the snow piled up before their doors to glance over toward Kagome and Sesshoumaru as they appeared on the edge of town, their whispered questions and worries not going unnoticed by the demon lord. The girl, however, was unable to hear them and smiled naturally at each villager she passed. Moments before they could arrive at their destination, Inuyasha walked out side, a transformed Tetsusaiga resting on his shoulder, as he gave Kagome a quick once over before turning to glare at his elder brother. But before either of them could speak, a red blur pushed passed him and jumped into Kagome's waiting arms.

“Hello, Shippo. Are you behaving for Inuyasha?” Kagome inquired, completely ignoring the staring match going on between the two dog demons, as she ruffled the curly hair of the kit in her arms. Though he vigorously nodded his head in affirmative, the loud scoff Inuyasha gave off told another story. Giving him a soft smile, Kagome reached into a hidden pocket, producing a lollipop for him, before handing it over and turning her attention back to the half demon that still blocked the door to Kaede's hut.

“Mind if we come in, Inuyasha? We need to talk,” Kagome insisted and, recognizing her tone as her serious, 'I mean business' voice, Inuyasha thought better than to argue and stepped back to allow them entrance. As much as he did not want his half brother entering his home, he knew if Kagome was using that voice, it had to be something important. As they entered the small, worn out hut and began seating themselves in the middle of the room near the small fire, Kaede greeted the younger priestess with a kind smile and began preparing tea for the group.

“I was paid a visit by a priest a few days ago. I'm sure you remember him, Inuyasha,” Kagome began as she turned toward her long time friend before answering his questioning look with one word, “Ungai.” The resounding growl that answered informed her that he did in fact remember him. “It's starting,” she began again, gaining another growl from Inuyasha and confused looks from the rest of their friends. “Do you all remember me telling you that there are no demons in my time? And that I grew up believing them to be fake?”

To her questions, her friends nodded their heads, confused looks still adorning their faces, unsure where she was going with this. “If I am right, the event that caused that, is what's coming. It is the only thing that makes sense. It's what my instincts are screaming at me,” she told them before turning her attention back to Inuyasha. “Ungai told me that the balance of power has shifted to good with the death of Naraku. There would be no better time than now to rid the world of demons.

“And they fully intend to. He's already gathering priests and priestesses for this battle and though I do not know exactly what he has planned, it won't be good. We have to stop them now, before it is too late and I have a plan. I'm going to need Sango and Miroku to come with me,” Kagome admitted as she turned back toward them, quickly receiving nods from both of them, before facing forward again to find Inuyasha giving her a inquiring look. “The first part of my plan is pretty simple, the three of us join their forces and find out their plan.”

“That will never work, Kagome. For starters, Ungai isn't going to believe you suddenly decided to join them and why bother wasting time learning their plan anyways? Between Sesshoumaru and I, we can easily defeat any number of humans they send at us,” Inuyasha pointed out, as he humphed and thrust his hands into his sleeves, insulted at the perceived slight against him. As though she thought him incapable of handling a few humans.

“Of course you can, Inuyasha, but I would much rather find a way to solve this that didn't result in the deaths of who knows how many humans, if at all possible. Besides, depending on what their plan is, if even one of them gets away from you, it could still happen. No it would be best to know what we are up against first. If it's an object, we can destroy it. A place, maybe we can hide it behind some kind of barrier. But no matter, the more we know, the greater the chances we will succeed.

“You are right about one thing though, he wouldn't believe me if I suddenly changed my mind and tried to join him, especially after our last encounter. However, if he was to find us beaten and battered on the side of the road, claiming it was demons that did it, he will no doubt want us to join him,” Kagome pointed out only to be met by Inuyasha's confused expression. Raising an eyebrow, in a very Sesshoumaru like manner, Kagome smiled softly while waiting for him to connect the dots himself.

The instant he did, it was made obvious by his shaking head and repeatedly telling her 'no'. “Don't worry, Inuyasha, you won't have to beat me up. Only Sango and Miroku. They can of course decline joining my plan, I can do this alone, however they would have an easier time sneaking away to update you guys than I would. Once this is done, we need to move quickly so listen up. Track him and place us in his path without being seen.”

Turning toward Sango and Miroku, Kagome waited until they had nodded their heads in agreement before saying a quick goodbye to Kaede and heading back out into the forest, the tea she had just finished preparing completely forgotten about. Deciding it would be better to take care of things away from the village, she had told her friends as much as they followed after her in silence. It wasn't until she had gotten far enough away from the hut and turned back to the others that they finally broke the silence. “So who's going to do you?” Inuyasha inquired, realizing she had still yet to reveal that part of her plan.

Instead of answering, Kagome turned her eyes to Sesshoumaru, holding his gaze with her own as the minutes ticked away in tense silence. A war was waged within their orbs, his fighting to change her mind, hers to show her resolve. It was Sesshoumaru who looked away first, knowing neither of them would break and was merely a waste of time to continue. “You are not letting me get hurt, Sesshoumaru, you are fulfilling my request. Your honor will not suffer,” Kagome assured him as she took a step toward him and laid a gentle hand on his arm. “Now hit me.”