On The Run

Hey thanks for being interested! First story posted on this site (but not the first written for this site-we'll have to see how that goes)!

First section is a bit violent but the majority of this fic isn't. Language and violence in this section. (you have been warned!)

 

"......" Words

'.......' Thoughts

 

 

 

Onward with the fic.

 

Chapter 1 Old Dreams

 

Kagome shivered, the abandoned house she was in was damp and dark, her uniform did little to keep her warm.

*Clunk*

"Who's there" she shouted scrambling for her rifle, pulling the pin back to load the firing chamber. She heard the reassuring click of the bullet readying itself.

*Thunk*

Behind! She spun around flicking the safety off and raising the sights to her eyes.

"Show yourself!" she yelled fighting to keep her voice from showing fear.

A plank fell from the dilapidated ceiling disturbing a cloud of dust.

'Hold on Kagome!' She thought trying not to tremble, the rest of the squad is coming!

Slowly, as the dust cleared, a figure appeared. He was dressed in red robes and had clawed hands and Amber eyes. He had a sword at his hip and long, shiny, silver hair flowed down from his head where two distinctly canine ears protruded from his scalp. Obviously a demon. He was already wounded, probably by another of her squad. Blood oozed from a bullet wound on his thigh.

Never show fear! That's what she had been taught, fear gives them the advantage.

Well damn it she was showing fear now!

She was shaking so badly that she was having trouble aiming the rifle.

"Now then" said the demon slowly, fangs flashing as he talked, "how about putting the gun down?" He motioned 'down' by pushing his hands down.

Kagome, deaf from fear, hadn't heard anything. All she saw was his hands traveling down, closer and closer to his sword.

She shot him.

The gun made a loud crack and jumped in her hands as the bullet left the barrel. At this range it could blow a human arm clean off. The sudden movement made Kagome gasp and shejumped so badly she almost dropped her rifle.

The figure proved he was not human by keeping his arm, that's not to say it didn't hurt like hell.

"Crazy fucking bitch!" he yelled grabbing its shoulder as blood exploded out of the exit wound.

Kagome was dumbfounded, the demon should have disintegrated, she had charged the bullet with a large amount of spiritual power. She was amazed, since the demon wasn't dead, that she was still alive.

Panicking she shot him twice more: once in the stomach, once in the left arm. Yet the demon did not die.

Reaching forward the demon sliced her rifle in half with its bare claws. Kagome gasped as her weapon clattered to the ground in two useless pieces. She collapsed to her knees waiting for the demon to finish her off, waiting for the pain of claws cutting her flesh. She closed her eyes.

*crash!*

She opened her eyes to see the impossible. Rain was pouring through a hole in the wall and the demon long gone. She looked at the floor, the rain was mixing with blood, her rifle lay destroyed but smoking.

"Private Higurashi! Private! Are you there" a voice called from outside, desperate, worried. It was Miroku her dear (if lecherous) friend and fellow squad member.

........

"Kagome! Kagome! Wake up!"

This was a different voice, younger, high-pitch, a child.

"Uhhh? Shippou?" Kagome suddenly sat up.

She was sitting in bed, her bed. Safe.

The 25 year old miko wiped a cold sweat off her forehead shaking, it had been that same dream.

"Kagome are you alright?"

Looking down she saw a small child on her lap, looking up at her in concern. Well not child exactly, he was a young fox demon.

"Thanks for waking me" she said looking out of her bedroom window to see the sunrise.

"The same dream again?" said the fox-boy.

"Yea only worse this time"

"You should see a doctor"

Kagome laughed, "No I'll be fine". The only doctor she trusted was miles away and it would be silly to travel all that distance because of dreams.

Kagome looked at the time and realised the chances of her getting back to sleep were zero, not that she wanted to have another nightmare anyway.

They weren't true dreams, they were memories. That particular memory was of the first assignment she had done in the military. She cursed her bad luck, most people got simple first jobs, she ended up against a seemingly unkillable demon!

"Well since I'm up we may as well get started! Get my gun would you Shippou?" She said clapping her hands together.

"OK" said the little fox demon before jumping off the bed and walking over to a solid chest in the corner. Unlocking its combination padlock the boy rummaged through the chest before taking out a handgun.

Kagome got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Twenty minuets later she re-emerged brushing her just showered hair. After drying, brushing and generally sorting out her black locks, she dressed in a pair of jeans, a well fitting T-shirt and sneakers. People sometimes commented on the footwear, but it came with the job, it allowed her to be fast as hell if she needed to. Slipping on a holster which would hold her gun almost under her left arm, she completed the look with a denim jacket. The jacket was tight enough to look stylish while loose enough that you couldn't tell she was packing heat.

"Normal or special?" asked Shippou holding out two clips of ammo. One strip contained normal copper bullets, the other were made from a strange metal alloy that shimmered in the morning light.

"Normal" she said taking the pistol and two clips of normal bullets from the fox demon who also slid a clip into his coat.

Kagome loaded the silvery handgun, admiring how she had managed to keep it looking new over five years of use. It had been custom made for her when she became a lieutenant. It was perfectly balanced and was small enough to hide under clothes or in a purse, while robust enough to take down large men.

Kagome holstered the weapon and wandered through to the small kitchen to find some breakfast. After they had eaten and washed up, the girl and the fox headed out the door carefully locking it behind them. They wouldn't be back for a while, they had already used this house for too long so they were moving on.

..........

They were in the middle of the countryside, nothing but fields and the odd farmhouse. Kagome's own house, small and cozy built next to a rural dirt road, was one of five that she owned.

Once outside a Shippou transformed into the image of a young human boy with a comical 'pop'.

Originally the fox demon found this challenging, often failing to transform fully leaving tails or elfish ears. Now after much practice he could turn flawlessly into any human form, it was of great use to both of them when working.

 "We're gonna need to catch a train" said Kagome setting off past her car to walk down the rural road, knowing that Shippou was not going to be happy about this.

Shippou nodded, "It's OK, I just hope some human brat doesn't start asking me stupid questions again." he shuddered thinking of the few confrontations he'd had with other children. Where do you live? Where do you go to school? Is that your mother? He hated their questions and the way he was forced to make up a background story. It didn't help that he was quite a lot older than he looked, demons age much slower than humans. Of course this meant they mature much more slowly as well, he could still get away with his little kid attitude.

"So where to Kagome?"

"West Tokyo"

"Awww c'mon I hate the city! Its so unnatural"

"We need to pay the bills Shippou!" Kagome sighed exasperated.

'And we haven't even got to the station yet!'

She wasn't actually too happy about visiting the city either, her family lived there and she found it hard to resist the urge to visit them. She had tried once, but even before she reached the steps in front of the family's shrine, she had seen the nondescript surveillance van parked outside.

She sighed, wondering if the military would ever stop looking for her.

She wondered if she was classed as AWOL or even MIA, she had heard that the military had covered up her desertion. It didn't really matter, her family knew she was alive. She dropped letters into random mailboxes every now and then telling them she was still OK. She refused to consider the possibility that the military had stopped her mail from reaching them, dwelling on such things would only make her depressed.

Kagome smiled as she imagined the look in her grandfathers face when he found out his granddaughter was running around Japan with a demon.

TBC...