Kagx Secret Santa
The Wishing Well
•
Hello! At fourteen minutes into mid night of the 6th of January, I give you this (very) late christmas gift!
To be honest, I do not know if I gave justice to your gift. I do not know how to feel about this one-shot. But I gave my all to make it good! It was very tiring sometimes, but I pulled forward! I must confess, there isn’t much of a romance and more of the beginning of a friendship and a whole story of its own. It feels kind of rushed at the end, but I gotta respect my time limit to end this piece! It’s about 10k long!
I really hope it is at least a little bit good, I’m very nervous about it! And please, do be free to correct any mistakes! I did re-read it and tried to find any typos, but the endline hovers over me and I can not delay this any longer. ^.^’
Happy New Year!
~Mari
•
Oh, honey. Goddesses don’t speak in whispers. They scream.
American Horror Story: Hotel S05E05: “Room Service”
•
“Ne, ne, Mama.”
“Hmm, what is it Kagome-chan?”
“Who is the kami in our Shrine?”
Blinking, the older woman looks away from the sink where she was washing the dishes from her family’s dinner. She looks down at her little child with her silky black short hair and hypnotizing blue-gray eyes that looked at her with such innocent wonder.
“Ma ma, Kagome-chan,” The older woman smiles and dries her hands on a nearby towel, soon crouching down to better look into her daughter’s soulful eyes. “How do you ask something to anyone, when you really want it? What do you say?”
The child blinks in confusion, pouting and tilting her head in puzzlement.
“Etto…We say ‘onegai shimasu’, right?”
“Hai! And what does it mean?”
“To ask for something really po-li-te-ly!”
The girl’s mother chuckled in amusement, nodding enthusiastically at her daughter’s answer.
“Now, the kami-sama who our shrine is dedicated to has many names — many of them relating back to words like ‘onegai’, or request, wish or desire. Some call her Negaigami, others call her Yokubō no megami. Some simply name her Nozomu. And you know what she will grant you if you pray really really hard?”
“What? What is it mama?!”
“A wish.”
“Eeeh?! Really? But…” The little girl frowned in confusion. “Any kami-sama can do that!”
“It’s not so simple dear.” The woman tucks one of the girl’s short lock behind one of her little ears. “Nozomu-sama is the goddess of wishes, so grants wishes in any form. Other kami may help you if you ask it, but Nozomu-sama is not bound by need of others - she’s bound to their desires, be it fickle or not.”
“So, if I wish for anything then Nozomu-sama will have to grant it for me?!” The girl gasped in wonder and excitement.
“Not quite, my dear.” The woman leaned forward, amused by her child’s excitement. Bringing a hand next to her own mouth, the older female lowered her voice as if she was about to tell Kagome a secret. “Because, for your wish to be granted by the Goddess of Wishes herself, you’ll have to find her first.”
“So she’s hidden in our Shrine?!”
The woman laughed, delighted by Kagome’s innocence.
“I don’t know, Kagome-chan! No one knows!”
“Eh?!”
The mother brought her child into her arms, hugging her gently and nuzzling her tiny black crown.
“No one has ever been granted a wish by Nozomu-sama herself. The legend say that she has only one person she would ever give the absolute wish to.”
“Who mama?”
“Herself.”
“Eh?” The little girl frowned at her mother. “Isn’t that shelfish?”
“Selfish, Kagome-chan. And no, it is not. Do you want to know why?”
“Why mama?! Tell me, please!”
“Because she has not done such a wish yet, and legend says she seared to never do it. And isn’t it amazing? To have the power to have absolutely anything you wish for, but to not do so?”
“I don’t understand.”
“One day you will, Kagome-chan.”
•
There was once a time where Kagome wouldn’t have trusted her future-self one bit.
Mainly because the past Kagome didn’t trust in kami — and that’s what she is now.
Kami. God. Goddess.
All mighty and all powerful in her domain — wishes.
She was the goddess of wishes, her power was over any being, artifact or place that could channel her power to grant a wish. She had to grant it. A wish was a reward, a gift given at the long adventure. How the wish went through — that’s another thing entirely.
Kagome had granted wishes that changed the world, the universe — for either good or bad. She had seen worlds fall and rise, universes destroyed and created. Kagome had watched supernovas begin and end, she had lived and she had died. She had lived eons in a matter of seconds — she had knowledge of what could be and what would not. She could peek in the future and stare at the past.
Kagome, the moment she became a goddess, simply was.
She had hold over time and birds and wishes and souls — kami domains were always blurred together. All kami could do mighty things beyond imagination and it was not so simple it could be explained by human words.
Nozumo, Negaigami or whatever other name she was called by in any other world or country or universe — she still preferred to think herself as Kagome.
Jailed little bird Kagome, forever chained powers beyond herself.
Well, not so much anymore.
She was kami now.
…
(And yet, still stuck in her cage.)
But she shouldn’t dwell in such unpleasing thoughts.
She had business to do — it was the reason she was in a human decoy body made of pure power-will of hers, dressed in a simple white summer dress and cowboy boots at the top of the stairs of the Sunset Shrine.
It was terribly painful to watch her old self being dragged down the well, she wanted to stop her, but knew that it would only create an alternative universe.
(She tried many times.)
Still, Kagome didn’t feel like watching her once-self being dragged down the well this time — so she denied the passage of Mistress Centipede though time, and stood by, watching as her human self walked out of the well house with her cat in arms while talking with her little brother not ever knowing the fate she had just missed.
“Miss?”
Blinking out of her stupor, she looked down to meet the old gaze of the man she wished she could call her own grandfather. Smiling, Kagome put her hands in front of her and bowed slightly for the old man.
“Hello, I’m the new sponsor for this Shrine.”
“Oh! Nozomu-san right? What a coincidence for you to have the same of both my granddaughter and our patron goddess! Come right this way! I must tell you, this old Shrine has all the reasons for you to sponsor! Our festivals are the most traditional you will ever find!”
Smiling, Kagome followed the old man, her Grandpa, to the place she once called home. And just as she passed by the God-tree, she could feel its power trimming through her in delight.
“I’m sure it has, Higurashi-san.”
Kagome would do well in honoring each version of her home and family in each and every universe in existence.
•
“Forlorn Hope, I ask you to wake from your sleep and hear my plea. Reflect my greatest desire so that you can make it true.”
Ah.
What’s this?
The Forlorn Hope? Awaken once more?
And who’s willing to trade their own like for a wish?
A son. A Kitsune avatar?
His wish is pure, and he is completely willing to exchange his life for his mother’s…
Happiness?
Fool.
A true mother’s happiness is their child.
“The happiness of this woman. Is that what you desire?”
Swirling black energy came out of the glowing mirror on the floor at their feet as the image of a woman was reflected on the mirror’s surface. Shuichi Minamino, known as Kurama Yoko in his past life as a full-blooded demon, doesn’t flinch in his kneeled position by the mirror, never straying his eyes from the artifact and ignoring the Spirit Detective by his side.
He does not hesitate is answering.
“It is.”
“HEY!” The detective’s voice cut through the mirror’s unlash of power around them. “Can’t you hold on for just a second so we can sort things out?! I mean, there’s gotta be another way to do this.”
Shuichi’s green eyes are hollow yet determinate, never straying from the cursed mirror.
“No.” His voice is low and strong. “There is not.”
“To grant this wish, you must give your life. Is that what you desire?” The Forlorn’s deep voice echoed around them.
“If that will save my mother’s life — yes, I do!”
A foolish wish that will bring your mother great grief. But it is her happiness that you wish for, not her survival.
She will find happiness.
At the cost of your life.
So be it.
“Then your desire shall be fulfilled.” Then, with a decisive air, the Forlorn Hope’s aura shone bright and crackled with energy around Shuichi, bringing grunts of pain from the Avatar as the mirror took his life energy.
It hurt, but he would do it for the mother who showed him kindness and love when he didn’t deserve it.
“NO!”
Shocked, Shuichi opened his eyes to look at the detective only to feel incredulity as he saw the young human spirit extending his hand toward the mirror, its crackling energy slowly enveloping the other’s body.
“What are doing?!”
The green clad detective ignored him, looking furiously at the mirror.
“HEY MIRROR GUY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”
Um?
What’s this?
This human…no. This hanyou is interrupting the wish?
Why though, the fox is his enemy!
“I WANT YOU TO TAKE MY LIFE INSTEAD!” His face was full of pain, yet he was determined to keep going. “That way Kurama can live and he can still get his wish, isn’t that right?!”
So altruistic.
Incredulous and frustrated, Shuichi almost felt like growling at the Spiritual Detective.
“This does’t make any sense! It’s MY wish!”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t make sense rescuing your mom so she’d spent her whole life mourning the death of her son!” The human closed his eyes in pain, his own mother’s grief flashing behind his closed lids. He looked at Kurama with eyes that spoke of experience and a plead for the other to understand. “I’ve seen it before and I don’t wanna see it again.”
Kurama’s face was conflicted as he gazed at the detective.
These two…
Interesting.
Very interesting.
I can see. Their intwined future now…their paths have crossed, and now they have an interesting future in front of them.
Should the mirror take which life?
Maybe…
Yes.
Very well then.
The mirror pulsed with energy, all its swirling aura focusing into one beam that shot upwards toward the night’s sky.
“Your desire shall be fulfilled.”
With a blinding light surrounding them, the two teenagers yelled in pain, falling unconscious on the floor. It didn’t take long before Kurama woke up, grunting, before running towards his mother’s room, worried about her.
Yusuke Urameshi awoke soon after the arrival of the shinigami Botan.
All along not one of them, not even the son of the ruler of the Spirit World, took notice of the goddess watching over them with growing interest.
•
They intrigued her.
The once-kitsune and the human with the soul and blood of Mazoku youkai.
It was with thoughts like this that she made herself a nurse within the hospital, seconds after the kitsune avatar runs down the roofs leading to the rooftop leaving behind the Spirit Detective and the shinigami.
Her hair was short and wavy, her eyes could not be changed and remained their luscious luminescent blue irises. Standing on the doorway leading to the rooftop, she looks at the duo laughing on the floor.
Yusuke Urameshi was the name of the boy. The shinigami was the one named Botan.
The boy now had a very interesting path that she would be sure to watch.
“Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!” Her voice is laced with the disapproval she didn’t felt, internally chuckling at the boy’s surprise and annoyance at the laughing ferry girl, who did not know of the goddess’ presence.
“Tsk, I’m heading out now, lady!” The boy stuck his hands inside his pants’ pockets, frowning at the nurse as the shinigami followed him, not knowing of the kami’s ability of seeing the supernatural.
“I’ll accompany you to the exit.” Kagome smiled brilliantly at him, finding his grumpiness amusing. She put one her hand in her uniform’s pocket and materialized a lollypop, offering it to him with a knowing smile. “Here, this is for you. For your good deeds.”
He deadpanned at her, but accepted the candy and walked away.
Smiling, she followed him in silence until they arrived at the hospital’s entrance. He looked back at her and waved away, and she soon disappeared without a trace.
•
Kagome transported her presence to the kitsune’s mother’s room. The woman was sleeping and her son was napping at her side, all senses hyper aware of everything around him — but he could not overcome a god’s power.
Silently, as if time itself stopped at her will and nothing was perturbed by her moving, Kagome approached the pair. The kitsune gripped his mother’s hand with a firmness and gentleness she seldom saw in a demon. It remained of Shippo. Of how she had cared for the young kit as if he was one of her own.
“Shuichi-kun?”
He was awake in an instant, with no trace of sleep in his eyes or body, looking at her with fierce green eyes that pierced through her human illusion.
“Who are you?” He slowly turned towards her, standing between her and the bed. “You are not one of the staff.”
“I started recently. Today, actually. I’m here to take care of your mother’s aftercare and then release.”
He did not bulge, standing defensively over his sleeping mother. Kurama looked at her with assessing eyes and then smiled slyly — a kitsune smile.
Kagome kept her serene smile while never turning her eyes off of him, because she knew what he saw — he saw a strange woman who he had never felt around the hospital, who had a smell too clean to be of any known race, who had a aura too demure and stilled and forced to look normal.
“Very well, miss.” He said, retreating to give the new nurse just enough room to wedge herself in, “I’ll allow you to do your duty.” There was a sharpness in his words that told Kagome all she needed to know.
One wrong move and the fox will bite.
“Thank you.” Kagome returned, checking over the slumbering patient’s machine. The quiet seemed to be thundering in between them, before she hummed, her fingers dancing over Shiroi’s tubes and checked their placements, “I’m sure she’ll be well soon.”
“Yes, your fellow colleagues have done miracles for my mother’s health. I’m greatly thankful for all your hard work.” Kurama’s voice was perfectly deceiving his caution of her, showing only what seemed like appreciation and gratitude — which she knew was partially true, he appreciated what the good doctors had done but knew it was not what cured his mother.
The Wish Goddess smiled bashfully, hiding her face from him with the short wavy strands of the fake body she was in. She looked at the woman on he bed, aware of the sharp green eyes watching for her every move. Feeling to the woman’s soul, coated now by the boys’ wish, Kagome allowed for her divine aura to bless the woman.
“I’m sure it was all due to you.”
His smile was freezing.
“Pardon me?” Those words echoed in the room, a warning and inquiring hiding in perfectly calculated words.
Smirking momently, she turned toward him with a sheepish smile glued to her thin lips, teeth worrying the bottom lip in fake shyness.
“I’’m sorry if I’m being rude with such straightforwardness — I’ve been told that you were by your mother’s side for the entirety of her treatment.” The kami-in-hiding tilted her head with truer smile on her lips. “You are a good son.”
The youkai stared intently at her, judging her words with calculative eyes.
“Thank you, I’m simply doing my duty and taking care of my dear mother.” He looked at her hands, now resting in front of her hips. “You are done.” It was not a question, but she replied anyways.
“Yes.” She nodded and walked toward the room’s door leading to the hospital hallways. “I shall take my leave, now.” She stopped at the doorway, her hand resting on the door’s handle. “May fortune be with you and your mother.” She stepped out of the room, looking mischievously at him over her shoulder.
You’ll need it.
•
The nurse came back on the following day.
“What’s your name?”
She stopped fiddling with the monitoring equipment around his mother to look at him over her shoulder, her blue eyes were dazzling and absolutely otherworldly on her otherwise common face. She turned toward him with those brilliant blue eyes of hers, short wavy hair moving delicately with her head as she smiled at him, sheepishly. It doesn’t fool him, he could sense her still aura — how it didn’t react to nothing. It was like staring at wall or ice, or to look upon a corpse — the unnatural stillness of death.
“I’m sorry! How rude of me, don’t introducing myself.” She smiled at him with tinkling eyes. “You may call me Kagome.”
Kurama waited for a surname.
She kept smiling.
“A pleasure Kagome-san.” Kurama choose to not point out her obvious lack of a surname.
“It seems like your mother is just fine, Shuichi-kun,” The black haired woman suddenly turned away from him, walking briskly toward the room’s exit and making him get up of his armchair to stand between her and his slumbering mother.
The woman’s strange aura suddenly shrunk, as if preparing to do something and Kurama could feel himself preparing to lash out at her.
She looked back at him, just as she was stepping out of the room, and he felt his whole self freezing at the way her aura surrounded him and his human mother. Kurama felt himself shaking and sweating as the unparalleled power surrounded him in a mockery of an embrace. His kitsune self was shaking in both fright and ecstasy as the delightful powerful aura encompassed their whole self — the ethereal energy was something he had never felt before, not even when in presence of the great daiyoukai in his past life.
Kagome didn’t say a word, merely looking at him with those brilliant blue orbs of hers before turning walking away.
In a second he was out on the hallway, feeling and searching for her presence, her sense, anything that could lead him to her — but there was nothing.
“Shuichi-kun?”
Turning murderous green eyes to his mother’s physician, Kurama did not hesitate in asking.
“Where can I find Nurse Kagome?”
The man gulped, taking a step back and looking strangely at the human avatar.
“N-nurse? Kagome? Where have you heard of that name?”
Narrowing his eyes at the man, Kurama took a step forward and gripping the doctor’s shoulder with one strong hand.
“The nurse assigned to my mother’s aftercare.”
“B-but there was no nurse assigned to your mother — I mean, Yukari-san, the one who have been Shiori-san’s nurse since her entrance in the hospital, keeps taking care of her. Usually when you’re at your school…” The man gaped at the teen, fixing a hard stare at the young man staring at him in shock. “Have someone appeared saying they were taking care of your mother?”
Kurama stared unseeing at the doctor in front of him, shock and shame passing through him before a cold rage took hold of his mind making his green eyes take a golden sheen as he stared at the human in front of him.
“Yes, A female with short black hair came to my mother’s room yesterday affirming to be assigned to care for her, unfortunately I was too much of a fool to trust your staff,” A jab, but it barely affected the old human who immediately straightened at his words, looking at him with serious and calculating eyes. “Please sensei, make sure that my mother is okay.”
The man nodded, already turning the door’s handle as Kurama turned towards the direction the woman had taken before disappearing.
He would find her.
And when he did…
Narrowing green eyes at the corridor, he ran, invisible to the human eyes around him.
He would make her pay for invading the fox’s lair.
•
“Ah man, mom is such a lazy ass…She could at least help me find this place.”
The human boy dragged his feet down the narrow road that would take him to his aunt’s home — a shrine he rarely visited, a place he only he visited as baby because his mother told him so. It was their only link to his father’s family side.
With the few memories Yusuke Urameshi has of his idiot of a father — he isn’t really excited to visit his aunt.
Brown eyes darken with memories of a painful past he wishes to forget — his father beating him up, beating his mother up, his father smoking and his mother drinking and useless apologizes and promises to stop — but he shakes his head in disgust of himself. He is not like that. Yusuke Urameshi was what he was because of his past.
And he wouldn’t want to be anything different.
Smirking, Yusuke sprints down the street.
He is not one to dwell on the past.
“HEY KID!”
Bringing himself to sudden stop as he passed a small cart of food on the sidewalk, Yusuke frowns heavily at the woman.
“I’M NOT A KID!”
Blue eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Yet you stopped when I called for a kid.” She grins, lifting a popsicle up for him to see. “The day is warm, kid, want some? It’s not too expensive.”
Brown eyes deadpan at her.
“That’s what every vendor worth his shit will say, lady.” He walked toward her, putting his hands on his hips and tilting his head inquisitively at her. “Tell me lady, have we met before?”
“Fufufu~”
“What kind of laugh is that?!”
She ignores him, “I’m sure it’s just your imagination, kid.”
“I’m fourteen, lady.”
“Big deal — still want the popsicle?”
“I heard it’s not good to take candies from strangers.”
“So you have a brain.”
“HEY!”
Black hair floated with the summer’s breeze as the woman chuckled. He rolled his eyes, but gave her the few coins he had for one of the icy treats — the day was fucking hot.
“Gimme your best one.”
“Here it is,” she offered it to him and he took it from her tiny hand, immediately digging in his treat. “Have a nice day kiddo!”
“I’m not a kid, dammit!”
“Sure, sure.” She waved at him with a smile on her lips, eyes closed in amusement.
Huffing, he stomped away, and could soon see the tori gates along with the long steps leading to his family’s shrine.
Dad’s family-in-law…
“Aunt married some Higurashi guy, right?” He squinted up at the steps. “Maybe she’s loaded. But he’s dead anyway…” Shaking his head, he put his arms behind his head. “Better get this done with…”
Quickly he ascended the steps leading to the Sunset shrine, and just as he set foot on the shrine’s ground, he could feel it — the immense energy surrounding everything around him.
With wide eyes, he took in everything surrounding him. The was the energy crackled around him, almost burning him, and how it seemed to be into everything on the place.
“Hey! We’re closed, stop spinning around and looking at my home like some kind of lunatic!”
Feeling a tic on his head, Yusuke turned sharply towards the female voice who had yelled at him.
“Who are you calling lunatic? And you are the lunatic one, living in a place with so much fucking stairs!”
“What did you just say?!”
The girl looking furiously at him was exotic for a Japanese. She was wearing a green school skirt with debatable length and a skimpy white shirt with a red bow on her bosom.
The girl had the greatest body he had ever saw, with long legs and thin waist and great boobs, she almost seemed like those dream girls. Her face was attractive and fierce, kinda reminding him of Keiko. But just kinda, because Keiko definitely didn’t have big blue-gray eyes and long wavy black hair.
Smirking, he crossed his arms in front of him and walked towards her.
“You heard it right, pretty face.” He watched, fascinated, as her face turned scarlet and she stomped her foot down.
“My name is Kagome you asshole!” He yelped when she grabbed the front of his uniform and pulled him down so they were face-to-face, one dainty thinner pointing at him. “Ka-go-me!”
Blinking, he tilted his head, looking more closely to her features.
“Wait, didn’t you just sell me a treat down on the street?”
Wrong words.
With trepidation, Yusuke thought back to his previous words as he watched the girl’s, Kagome’s, face slowly turn tomato red with fury and shame, her eyes seemed to crack with pink light, crackling pink energy surrounding her body — he could certainly see it and feel it, but he doubted she could.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!”
•
She watched amusedly as her once-self met their cousin, at least their cousin in this dimension, and the both teens proceeded to shout at each other’s faces. Their energy clashed, mingling with the synch of blood-ties and clashing as the opposites they were — the faint youkai blood in the boy’s body was peculiarly active —and their tempers were of no help.
The goddess licked the vanilla popsicle, watching as her mother approached the duo while she sat on the arch of the red tori gates, the protective wards around the Shrine caressing her very soul as the partake in her very power. The wind picked up around her making long black tresses dance in the wind along with spring green leaves and lost petals of local flowers. Her long legs, covered by red hakama, were swinging childishly as her toes, her feet being free of any adornment, curled inwards.
Kagome could feel the wheels of fate turning to adjust her human-self’s presence.
She could feel the shift in the Shikon’s fate. The Jewel shone to her, calling for a wish that would never come from the goddess. It simpered inside the human miko’s body, mixing with the girl’s body and life essence.
The Wish Goddess knew that soon enough, the girl would enter the chaotic future surely reserved to her.
It would be best for her to know of powers — in any way, it wasn’t like Kagome herself had any kind of power to interfere with the humans’ fate.
Willing herself away, the goddess blinked and soon she was inside the the Spirit World near their jail ward. Not one of the beings around her took notice of her divine presence — not that any of them could. The only possible being in this plane that could notice her would be, perhaps, King Enma. But he was still a lowly spirit barely gracing the divine grounds of existence.
Upper S-Class my ass…
Savoring the last bits pf her treat, the goddess walked through the gates separating all realms from diverse supernatural criminals, and let herself the long walk leading to the kitsune she very much wished to observe.
Finding the male, she stopped and stood before him — not that he could ever hope to see her should she will it so — as he looked unseeing at the wall facing him. His Youkai self, invisible to most but not the goddess of Souls, sat by his side in the same position as him. with a thought, she checked on his human mother, seeing to her happiness and making sure that the wish was being carried on.
But she can not go on without her son. It would be against the Wish.
With a mischievous smile, she made it so he could scent her — the faint scent that she had when in a false body — thus making the avatar tense greatly as he turned towards the cell’s bars to see nothing there.
Kagome hoped he enjoyed to play Sherlock Holmes with a bit of violence on the side.
It was time for her to send a note to itty bitty Prince Koenma.
It just wouldn’t do for a wish to be broken.
•
“What do you mean with ‘show me where it is’?”
“Man, I mean, you probably know where all shrines in the whole country are right? I mean, competition and all.”
Kagome Higurashi stared numbly at her younger cousin as he shrugged his shoulders while careless words fell from his lips. She felt like she really shouldn’t have had listen to her mother when she told her to help her one year younger cousin to ‘adjust’. already, he almost died and their mothers wanted them to get closer — but seriously. He was such a idiot.
“You idiot.”
“Hey! I’m not the idiot here!”
“You should speak with more respect to your cousin, Yusuke!” Her cousin’s female friend hissed. From the moment he had introduced them, the girl looked at her with such a starstruck gaze, Kagome thought the blue headed beauty might be confounding her for some celebrity. “I’m deeply sorry for his behavior Miss Kagome!”
Sighing, the black haired girl only shook her head as the two started to shout profanities to one another.
“So, you’re going to train martial arts or something?”
Both freeze at her inquiry, making her lift an eyebrow at their startled looks.
“Genkai-san is famous for having a shrine building not used for its intent. It’s more of a compound really. Grandpa is not found of Genkai-san because of it.” She cocked hip as she rested one hand on the hipbone and lifted the other, pointing a thin finger to her cousin. “Genkai-san is also some big shot in the Martial arts world.”
“Yeah, you could say that. I’m entering the tournament ‘cause this idiot here is going to give me tickets for Tokyo Dome’s mixed martial arts matches when I win it and I ain’t gonna deny these!”
“Yusuke!”
“Bla bla bla, so Kags,” She crossed her arms under her breasts, eyebrow twitching with annoyance.
“My name is Ka-go-me.”
“Do you know where the hell is the place?”
Pursing her lips in displeasure, Kagome looked at his weird blue-haired companion, Botan, — who still looked at her as if she was a rare diamond or something — to the brown orbs of her younger cousin. Sighing in defeat, she nodded and turned on her feet, walking towards the boy’s destination.
“I’ll take you there now, but you better don’t bother me with this again!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever Kags.”
“MY NAME IS KAGOME!”
•
Something, something really big and messed up, was happening under Koenma’s nose.
It was obvious.
Gulping, the spirit stared at the letter put innocently on the very center of his desk.
Koenma could remember, very clearly, the only time he had ever felt that type of energy coming from the small letter in front of him.
And the only time he had ever met a kami, it was minor one taking care of a small pond on Germany.
But the signature energy in coming from the letter’s seal, was definitely not from a minor kami.
Whoever wished to contact him — they were clearly very high up. His high up, his own father, was probably a minor headache when compared to someone — something — so powerful and high up as the one who wished to inform him of whatever they wished.
Koenma wasn’t a fool to not recognize a god’s wish to meddle with something.
He was definitely scared to see to the letter’s content.
“KOENMA-SAMA!”
Yelping, the spirit bit hard on his pacifier, his heart beating erratically as he stared at the blue haired shinigami staring brightly at him, completely ignoring the Jorge, one of his ogre assistants, as she barreled into his office without a care in the world.
“Bo-botan! Calm yourself! Where are your manners? You know I’m your boss and you’re supposed to kind of respect me, right?” He squinted at her and pointed a tiny finger at her kimono-clad form.
“That’s of no importance Koenma-sama!” She slammed both hands on his desk, reclining herself down so they were at a somewhat eye-level with each other. “You have no idea what I just found out.”
“Vacation time?”
“Well, that would be good too — but no! Something much more surprising!”
Sighing, the man-child let his head fall on the desk, letting his voice drag out childishly.
“Whaaat?”
“A miko.”
…
Miko.
…
As in a priestess.
…
As in a kami’s wet dream.
…
“WHAT?!”
“I know, right?!” Botany twirled happily on her foot, arms spread out to the metaphorical sky as she laughed merrily. “A miko! In this time and age!”
Koenma stared at her in perfect puzzlement and astonishment, not much different from Jorge, who had fainted as soon as the word miko was processed by his brain.
“B-b-but…why? Who? WHERE?”
“And that’s,” She stooped suddenly, pointing at him and lifting an inquiring eyebrow. “Where things get really interesting.” She leaned forward, hand covering her mouth as if she was telling him a secret. “She’s Yusuke’s cousin!”
He had no words that could describe what he was feeling now.
It was in his frozen state that he left his guard down, so when Botan’s pink orbs distractedly went down to his desk, her gaze fell on the innocent, still closed, letter displayed at the center of his desk. And as her gaze rested on the seal shutting it close, she felt her whole insides freeze in fear as the divine energy entered her senses.
“Koenma-sama…” She didn’t dare to move, much less look away from the seal as Koenma followed her line of sight.
The letter was soon snatched away from her view and he stared silently at her, meeting her frightened pink gaze with stern eyes.
He knew how hard it was to other beings to be in the presence of the pure holy energy of gods. It was too much.
Their eyes met and he simply shook his head, not letting any words leave his lips.
“I will…I will report later. Yusuke…Genkai…”
“Go.”
She gulped.
“Yes, Koenma-sama.”
He watched her leave, gaze resting at the passed out Jorge, and with a sigh, he opened the kami’s message.
•
The moon was high in the human’s realm while chaos and fear ran free through it. Demon parasites roamed free with the Four Saint Beasts’ attempt to overrule the Human World.
The Goddess of Time, Wishes, Birds and Souls — known to only herself as her primordial name, Kagome — stepped over dimensions as easily as one walks through their own home, bare feet silently leading her through the Maze Castle as time came to a sudden stop around her.
She could feel the human’s, the youkai descendent who she took interest in, life energy —his very soul — slowly crossing realms.
The boy was dying.
Yusuke Urameshi was completely different from the other boy — more like a man, but not even fully human he was — she watched for months now.
She looked at Kurama, hoping to see something, she really didn’t know what, in his gaze that could lead her to involve herself with the mortal’s life — more than the occasional visit and prank without his knowing of the interest a kami had in him. The hybrid demon wasn’t affected by the human’s death.
But the boy’s friend…
A pure soul, taken by misguided thoughts and erratic nature — but pure nonetheless.
She stared at him, at his distressed soul as it weeped for the loss of a friend.
It was no new feeling for the boy — but it was certainly more intense.
Kagome felt her lips drawing a nostalgic smile, gazing at them, at all of them, she could see the bonds that would surely form.
Her gaze stared down with fondness at the boy, Yusuke, her somewhat of a cousin, stood on the very brink of death. Soon, her brilliant blue stare fell onto the avatar kitsune, who stared at it all with calculative eyes.
(Her heart ached for her own kitsune. But it was a pain that was, sadly, much lesser after eons of existence.)
As the boy’s life was returned by his friend, she let one tendril of her power caress the kitsune’s sense.
She knew he would enjoy the hunt of her.
•
He was turning mad.
It could only be.
It was the only logical explanation for the damn woman’s haunting of his life!
At the most inconvenient of times, and even convenient times, her scent or even her strangely still energy would grace his senses, enveloping him into a haze of fury and wonder and excitement.
Kurama wanted to tear her apart.
But she put him into a damn chase and it has been so long to him since such a tempting challenge was put so deliciously for him.
(Still, it didn’t change the fact that he was hunting to kill.)
Kurama could feel his blood pumping, and his youkai aspects seemed to be more dominant — and he felt so thrillingly powerful.
He was mad with fury and excitement — he had never felt more like Kurama Yoko in his short human life.
Closing his eyes, he willed his body to cool down as he walked towards Prince Koenma’s office. It would simply not do for him to be so feral at the presence of the spirit — Kurama did not know what made the Prince willingly put him, Kurama Yoko, out of his cell blocks.
But Kurama would not look a gift horse in the mouth.
He nodded at Jorge, who immediately opened the spirit prince’s door for him, ushering him inside and closing the door behind him.
His green gaze met the eyes of the baby prince, and he nodded in greeting.
“Koenma. What may I help you with this time?”
Inside, he felt like bristling at such submission coming from him. He was Kurama Yoko. He listened and bowed to no one.
But to remain free, he must not allow such thoughts to surface.
“Something really important, so you can’t mess this up.” The baby frowned at him. “You’re the best of the whole bunch to deal with delicate situations — and this certainly calls for a level headed one like yourself.” The baby took a file from his desk and walked towards him, handing it to him with a most serious expression.
“You may wish to let you demon side out of this — it could turn out worse for you.”
Kurama narrowed his eyes at the thin file, and then turned them to the baby.
“What am I really dealing with here?”
“You’re going to enter the mess that is a life of the ones favored by the real high ups in existence.” The baby pointed at him. “Congratulations, Kurama Yoko, you’re now the official personal guard of the last living holy human — a miko.”
He had no answer to that.
“Inside the file you’ll have her address, there is no picture though but you will sense her energy right away, there is also an essay on priestesses’ powers. You are going to have to…” The baby looked away from the shocked avatar, scratching his little chin and pursing his lips. “Break the news for her, we could say. We can’t let her on the unknown.”
“You expect me…” Kurama took a deep breath, his youki seething within him. “To basically educate a miko? Someone who could destroy me with a mere touch?”
“Don’t exaggerate Kurama.” The baby toddled to his chair with his arms crossed behind him. “It is next to impossible to meet a priestess with such prowess — the only one that comes to mind is Midoriko-hime.”
“The Shikon Miko…”
“Yeah, and let’s be honest,” The baby sat on his chair, staring amusedly at the avatar. “What are the chances of we having another Shikon no Miko?”
Holding back his desire to twist the baby’s neck, Kurama opened her file, and his green sharp gaze zeroed on the miko’s name.
“Kagome…” He stared at it with no outward reaction, but on the inside he could feel the thrill at the possible lead in his hunt. “Kagome Higurashi…”
“Yeah, it’s an uncommon name, don’t you think?”
Kurama smirked.
Indeed, it was.
•
The Sunset Shrine was the holiest place Kurama has ever set foot on.
The entire compound was filled to the brim with energy, pure and untouched forming wards upon wards of protections that he knew would probably take almost all of his power —even if he was at his very prime as a kitsune and he was under no illusions that he was, somehow, allowed into the shrine’s grounds.
The wild life, the forest surrounding the shrine, was brimming with health and power. Every plant welcoming him readily as their energy synchronized to his own.
Kurama did not expect for the hush of power that came to him — but he gladly accepted.
He was going to deal with the very antithesis of an youkai and he surely wished to be prepared.
Not sensing any life forms worth paying attention beyond the old male inside the main house, Kurama took to the giant god-tree ’s branches. The tree seemed wise and ancient — and so, under the god-tree’s shade, he sat and waited.
Time passed, and he let his his eyes close as he listened to the sounds of nature. The peaceful scenario around made him relax, his hearing appreciating the soft sounds of leaves dancing on the trees’ branches and the birds singing, the soft whisper of the wind as it played with his red mane with metaphorical fingers. The somewhat clean scent of nature, almost fooling him into thinking it untouched by humanity, was crisp and fresh in his nostrils.
He stayed like that for what seemed to be hours.
Until his senses were graced with holy energy.
His eyes snapped open as two voices reached his sensitive ears. The first he listens is of a boy, young and carefree. Kurama can hear him running toward the house, laughing freely at his companion.
The other voice though, it brings all his senses to a frenzy.
“Souta! Come back here you brat!”
Kurama stares at the young woman running behind the boy, she’s waving her fist at him, her form cradled in a green school uniform, her short skirt swaying with the movement of her body and her long black hair is free behind her.
It almost like a mirage — the girl is so very much similar to his pray, her voice and appearance are eerily similar.
But it’s her energy that makes him recoil in puzzlement.
It’s the fresh and pure aura of a priestess. It’s clashing with the little energy he let pass through his tight grip on his youki. The girl is warm, light and wild.
Nothing like the still ocean that was the nurse.
But yet — yet it was like she was his pray, and at the same time she was not.
He watched as she entered her home, green eyes sharp and calculative.
Standing on the branch, he narrowed his gaze at his charge, watching her house with puzzlement.
He was sure she was somehow connected to his pray, who always tormented him anywhere and everywhere — Kagome Higurashi was somehow connected to the Nurse Kagome who dared to fool him and invade his mother’s space.
Something was not right.
Why would the strange nurse have connections to the last living miko?
•
The wheels of fate were turning.
It was strangely heartfelt the way the hybrid, Hiei, looked at his estranged twin sister.
Willing herself closer, she inspected the girl’s welfare as well as Yusuke’s.
Looking at the Toguro brothers, she frowned.
They were trouble.
Blinking in surprise, she took a step back. Why would she ever care if they were trouble?
It was of no matter to her — they were mortals. Mere mortals who would surely not affect her existence.
But Yusuke…
Would leave her. He was mortal, so was her family and so was every other being who could live. She, a kami, could only exist for all eternities — and so she had no company in the mortals. Not even one as Sesshoumaru could really be by her side.
She would stand alone, by herself and only herself, until-
…
Kagome could not even tell until when, because she was no mere minor goddess. Her power domain was not over a river, or a tree or any of such. She had hold over primordial concepts that if destroyed could mean the destruction of every living being — she can’t tell why powers of such great magnificence were given to her. For she was a mere mortal woman before, a holy human blessed by her now fellow kami, and she could not be graced in such heights as she was.
But here she still was — pinning for mortals, and still protecting a family she could barely remember beyond feelings of deep devotion and love Kagome felt for them.
Looking at the odd bunch of people gathered around her without their knowledge of her presence, the red headed avatar passed through her mind and wondered what he was up to along with her human counterpart.
The kitsune avatar took to watch the girl closely — Kagome was sure it was because of Koenma. The half-spirit surely knew of the miko’s existence by now.
She imagined he was quite confused with their faint similarities.
Turning, she transported herself to the kitsune’s location, surprised to find him still staking he human self.
She stared at the girl she once was — a girl that she never truly was actually. This Kagome in front of her would never experience what she did. She would not travel to the past.
Staring back at the avatar hiding in the Goshinboku, Kagome smiled softly.
Maybe this human-self of hers wouldn’t have the adventure she first and many other alternative Kagome’s had. But the goddess was sure this human her would have a new adventure all on her own.
With a mischievous grin, she let a bit of her energy flare around her, startling her human self and sending the avatar into a frenzy.
•
Kurama was on her the next second after he froze upon sensing his pray’s signature energy.
He took the miko by her neck and seemed her on the god-tree’s trunk, her body and mind took almost too long to notice his attack and then she was staring at his green eyes that burned with fury.
“You were there.”
“W-wha…” His grip on her neck tightened, and he took a small seed from hair. “Who-who…”
“It was you who dared to approach my mother when she had just received the chance to live once more.” His voice was calm and cold, face blank and eyes burning with his hunt’s triumph. “You fooled me, and could have seriously damaged my mother. And you ran.” He growled at her, not managing to keep it cool as he explained to her.
You simply don’t run from a predator. It will only chase you.
“I-I don’t…know..”
“Don’t deny it!” His rose surged to life and he manipulated it’s thorn filled stem around her body. Her face twisted with pain and confusion, as well as he fear. Which was good, he wanted her to be afraid.
“How…ho-UGH!” She clawed at his hand holding her neck in a vice grip as the rose’s stem tightened its grip on her body. Her clothes started to tear and blood was already dripping on the floor.
“You are the damned nurse, aren’t you?”
Her quick gasps for air and his faint growling were the only sounds around them, any animal having fled as soon as his energy spiked in fury.
“You’ve been following me! I don’t know how some flimsy thing like you could ever enter places like the Spirit Realm’s jail ward, but,” He gripped her chin and brought it forward, ignoring her attempts at trying to turn away. “It is of no matter now. You will pay for your daring.”
The girl growled — growled! — at him, eyes blazing with fire he had never seen and suddenly he remembered what she was.
“You…idiot…I…” Both her hands gripped his wrist with surprising force, and her air around her was suddenly cracking with energy that put him on edge. “I…am…Kagome…not some…nurse!”
Kurama pressed on.
“You made the mistake of using your name. And…well, you faked it.”
Her gaze clashed with his in a furious glower.
“Not…ME!”
And with this, a bright light came from her, burning away his skin and the rose stem that had kept a hold of her body. He yelled in pain, and he was sure that if he hadn’t thrown her away from him and jumped as far away from as he could, she would have disintegrated his whole arm, possibly even his body!
He pulled his injured arm closer to himself, hissing at the pain as the girl trembly lifted from her place on the ground. Her body was worse for wear, her clothes teared and her body with many lacerations, each dripping continuously with blood. The girl was stared in wonder at her hands, still faintly glowing pink that even from such a distance seemed to make Kurama’s body itch.
“What…What…”
And slowly, it downed on Kurama what he had just done.
He should be ashamed — Kurama let his youkai instincts take hold of his mind and body, something that hadn’t happened in centuries. And even in his human body, it should be even more impossible to make his instincts overwhelm his conscious mind. He could know very clearly sense that she had not been the source of the aura he felt. The miko’s aura was so absurdly different from his pray’s.
Could it be her? The very antonym of a youkai, awakening instincts of defense and violence he almost forgot he ever had?
And it was with a bitter taste in his mouth that he slowly approached the slowly panicking miko, ignoring the way her uncontrolled energy lashed out at him in a most painful way.
Hearing his slow footsteps, the girl tried to stand but utterly failed and started to crawl backwards away from him. Her skin still glowed, and the air around her still crackled with pink energy as her life blood steadily and surely seeped out of her.
She crawled until the she bumped her back on a small shed’s door, and quickly opened it to reveal a small well house. She crawled again until she kneeled behind the well. But he did not give up, and limply walked until his legs bombed on the positive side of the well.
Their labored breaths almost echoed in the small well house, the faint glowing of her body and the sunlight coming from the small cracks on the wood structure of the well house were they only source of light.
She was kneeled on the other side of the well, dainty hands griping tightly to the well as she hid her face from him. It didn’t take long before she slowly lifted her head so only her eyes could be seen. She looked utterly vulnerable and scared — and still every bit brave.
He took a long breath, and did not stray he gaze away from her, tilting his head and staring curiously at the little human.
“Will you kill me now with your magic plants?”
He managed to crack up a smirk at her words, but only shook his head in answer.
“Your eyes…” She seemed to gulp in nervousness. “They’re different now…”
“How so?” He cringed at the rawness of his voice, his throat felt like it was teared apart by a blunt knife.
“They were gold and red…and your voice too…It’s different…”
He had nothing to say to that, so he merely nodded.
Her eyes turned to her still glowing hands.
“I’m glowing.”
“You are.”
He kept staring at her and she turned her gaze towards him again.
“I’m sorry…for my behavior…” He frowned, finally looking away from her as his grip on his injured arm tightened. “You…reminded me…of someone who I am searching for… and suddenly I couldn’t control my feral instincts.”
Slowly, she hefted herself up, skin still glowing with reiki and still very cautious of his very move.
“Feral…”
He glanced at her before straightening himself and meeting her gaze squarely.
“Yes. I am what you could call an avatar.”
“Avatar?” She lifted an eyebrow at him. “You control all elements?”
He smirked at her and shook his head.
“No — I house another being within me. But it’s a little more complicated than that. What you need to know though…” His eyes narrowed at her. “Is that what I am, or was, is an youkai.”
She shook her head at him, eyes disbelieving as he imagined his mother would be if he ever told her of his true origins.
“No-”
“It’s the truth.” She clenched her jaw, staring at him with confused doe eyes. “And the reason for you injuring me so is because you are a miko, your powers lashed out greatly at me because of my opposite youki.”
“Now stop right there!” She leaned forward with a fierce frown on her face. “You don’t have any right to come right here and tell me those lies AND put me into your kinky stuff! Youkai don’t exist!” She took a deep breath, and he watched warily as her aura once again crackled wildly around her as she shouted with her eyes closed in hope to keep hold over her tears. “I’M KAGOME DAMMIT!” She extended her arm beside her in a quick move, as if to move away his words. “NOT A MIKO OR NURSE OR WHATEVER!” Kurama took a step back as suddenly the well started to glow pink. “I’M KAGOME!”
And with a mighty roar, from the depths of the well, came a centipede youkai.
•
Koenma took a deep sigh as he watched the avatar gently escort the priestess away from his office, one arm around her shoulders and she let him do it after only elbowing him lightly.
He couldn’t even fathom to imagine on how much trouble the
Really, no one was hoping for the well in the girl’s house to be a portal to Makai, making the duo, whilst trying to battle the centipede, be thrown at the portal down the wall and go through quite the adventure — short as it was.
Koenma had no doubts that that was caused by no one other than the kami interested in those two.
Shaking his head, Koenma stared at the hanyou frowning deeply at him.
“Hey, Prince guy, what ya doin’ about me? I ain’t gonna stay in this place.”
“InuYasha-san…what do you think about working on field for me?”
Gold eyes stared surly at him. Koenma knew of the hanyou’s fragile mind — he had just discovered that he had been asleep for half a century! Only to find one weird girl that strangely resembled his past-lover and a strange human who smelled human and youkai but wasn’t a hanyou. Koenma understood that the hanyou was previously stuck in Goshinboku in the girl’s shrine — but when the realms were divided, a mirrored version was created in Makai for no one could remove the arrow that bind him to an eternal sleep.
The potential in the girl was great if she so easily had taken out the enchanted arrow.
An arrow that had been shot by the last Shikon guardian, Kikyou.
“Keh,” Koenma focused on the dog hanyou. “What will I gain with it?”
“That depends only on what you need.”
The hanyou was truly…dislocated? Confused? How do you call someone who has just woke from a sleep of five hundred years?
Well, Koenma was sure that he would convince the Dog General’s son to accept his bargain.
It would be useful to have him at his side.
•
A month had passed since Kagome Higurashi discovered her powers, met Kurama and traveled to Makai.
It had been a month since their (messy) meeting and short adventure into the youkai realm. Since them, Kurama had kept his duty of guarding and helping her to understand better both her powers and the new knowledge of the different realms in existence.
Their impromptu trip to Makai, short as it was, made them have such a profound bond — Kagome couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it was their way they met, or the heat of the moment, but they could surely call themselves friends afterwards.
The centipede demon had thrown her down the well and Kurama, after slashing the thing in half with only but an move of his wrist, had jumped with her. Only for them both have the unpleasant realization that they were surely not on Earth anymore. They fought tooth and nail to survive, (she would be honest and admit it was mostly Kurama) because as soon as they left the well demons attacked them from what seemed like every direction and then they couldn’t jump again in the well right away, but yet, they relied in each other even when, then, she thought of him as enemy who had tried to kill her.
When they found Goshinboku, or what seemed like a twisted and dark version of Goshinboku, and the boy with doggy ears, they were swarmed, and Kurama was profusely bleeding when the boy confounded her with yet another person. Tired and just frustrated, she had screamed at him her name, causing her powers to lash out again. The arrow in his chest glowed, and looking at Kurama to see him in such bad state (mostly due to her uncontrolled aura) had made an agreement with the boy.
She liberated the hanyou and he helped them to scape, they jumped the well and the boy, InuYasha, followed them suit.
Kurama was always by her side despite his obvious bad state, suspicious of the hanyou that had tagged along with them.
Kurama and her, they were quite close afterwards.
After meeting the spirit Prince, it all became a blur. Suddenly she started to take her duties as miko of her family’s shrine very seriously, even going as far as to use the traditional garbs and trying, and mostly failing, to teach herself the art of archery. Kurama was there everyday, and soon she learned of his human name, Shuichi Minamino. And then they were both frequenting each other’s houses and families and walking together and talking and laughing and playing and…
Her life felt…chaotic. Beautifully chaotic in a sense she did not know what would happen next — and yet…
Yet she felt a profound gratefulness. For what? She did not know. Maybe for the sense of joyful freedom she had, that she was strangely very aware of.
She stood in front of the Goshinboku, gazing at it with a lost, yet serene, gaze.
She felt when someone, a female, approached her and stood by her side whilst gazing at the ancient god-tree. Kagome did not look away from the tree, but smiled anyways.
“Welcome ma’m, how may I help you?”
“You are the resident miko?”
Blinking, Kagome looked at her miko garbs and chuckled, amused.
“In training actually…” She turned toward the short haired woman. “I’m Kagome Higurashi.” She bowed in greeting, and her blue-gray eyes met the bluest pair of eyes she had ever seen, showcased in a face eerily like her own.
Her mind brought the words of Kurama, his explanation of why he had treated her so badly upon first meeting and she gulped.
The woman smiled at her and time seemed to slow down as the woman gazed deeply at her, and something inside Kagome resonated at the woman’s attention.
“A pleasure. I am called Kagome Nozomu.”
