Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all his friends were created and lovingly brought to life by Rumiko Takahashi. I am merely celebrating them.

A/N: All text in '_' are thought expressions, **_** for comm. links, and ~_~ for telepathic messages.

My story, A Demon Should Act Like A Demon, was plagiarized a few years ago. Helene had notified me and reported the person who did it. As my thanks, I mentioned in Bane of My Existence, Prologue V, that would dedicate the next chapter of my working stories to this wonderful person. Helene, this is for you.

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A Sesshoumaru/Kagome Fic.

THE HUNT FOR THE SHIKON NO TAMA

BY

ERICEDWYN

PROLOGUE III: The Debut

-The Hunting Pack's Briefing Room, Nine years ago-

"I have wonderful news. The secondary visual implants were a success. Both Kagome and Kikyou are responding well, and the test feeds were everything we had hoped for." Meiyo relayed about his latest project. His animated face and exuberance made him seem younger than his years.

"Excellent!" InuTaisho boomed.

"When can training resume?" Sesshoumaru queried.

Kaede frowned at the nonchalant way the Youkai Lord had asked that question. "Not until they are healed."

Sesshoumaru cocked his head to one side, "and that will be?"

"In another 14 days." Kaede gave her teammate a challenging look. He, in turn, returned her regard with his usual impassive one.

InuTaisho quelled the beginnings of a chuckle that was itching to erupt. Rare it was for someone to risk the wrath of his Eldest. It was rarer still for that someone to not only be female, but a Human as well. The look his mate-to-be sported was on the level with inu youkai mothers protecting their young. He understood her stand and he knew Sesshoumaru did as well. However, very few knew his son as well as him, and that the silence he was drawing out by his stand, was one made to amuse himself. So what a Lover and Father to do?

"A fortnight and a much deserving rest for the girls." InuTaisho broke the silence as he laid a comforting hand on Kaede's shoulder. "They will take the mantel soon, and rest will be few and far between."

Kaede sighed resignedly. A mantel she bore and about to decree to her daughters, the weight of it much heavier as bearers of Midoriko's soul. It wasn't a life she would have wanted for her daughters, but one that was of great import not only to their cause but for the sake of all existence. She would regret their participation every day of her life.

Another uncomfortable silence reigned, which was becoming more and more frequent the closer the Twins neared their debut. Kouga, having known Kaede all her life, could very well guess what was on her mind. There was no secret here. He was only glad that Inuyasha was holding a vigil by the Twins' side for he was sure he would have made a blunder with his words or actions, probably both. Better silence than the ruckus his best friend would have caused. Yet the silence was beginning to cause him discomfort, and the room seemed to shrink in space around him.

"Meiyo-san," he began to say while he crossed to a less crowded corner of the room, "can you explain how these secondary cameras work?"

"Yes, of course, Kouga-dono." Meiyo nodded to Kenjiro, who fed a diagram to a large screen on the wall from his laptop. "The objective of the secondary visual implants is to ensure a continuous feed of visual data to us should the primary cameras on their eye shields fail. The components of the cameras on the eye shileds are so fragile that an output of 50% or more of the girls' purifying energy can quickly fry them. Since the implants are internal, the chances of the cameras failing are miniscule." Meiyo explained.

"It doesn't interfere with their eye sight?" Kouga asked.

"Not very much." Meiyo shook his head. "It was only during the Deep Concentration & Focus testing did the girls mention of a tiny spot that would appear, but they both said that this spot doesn't interfere with their vision."

Meiyo nodded again to Kenjiro for another diagram and pointed to the cross section of the eye. "The cameras are microscopic in design and imbedded far enough that the girls won't feel them and more importantly, far enough that they cannot be detected." Meiyo nodded again to Kenjiro before he continued.

"As mentioned before, the original concept of the secondary visuals is to provide us with continuous feed. Their frequency is static. I have set it so that they turn on automatically when the cameras on their eye shields fail. We can also turn them on remotely from HQ."

"Why not do away with the eye shields altogether?" Kouga asked, as he turned his gaze from the screen to Meiyo.

"The eye shields have an enhanced screen that provides data directly from HQ such as heat sensor readings, depth perception, all sorts of trackers… anything that can enhance our vision. You have no need for them, but it helps us Humans. I think the Twins should still benefit from however long they function."

Meiyo returned to his seat, one directly across from Kaede. "Although we can turn them on as needed, I prefer to limit their use. I do not know, as of yet, what complications may occur through long term use. It is, after all, an imbedded foreign object."

"I only agreed to this because you will regulate their usage and test frequently, Meiyo." Kaede remarked, her tone a little brusque. "Any sign of trouble and they're out."

"Of course, Kaede." Meiyo gave his comrade a reassuring smile. "Any sign at all."

"Can the transmission be easily detected?"

"A good question, Sesshoumaru-sama." Meiyo turned to the Youkai Lord standing by the windows. "The transmission frequency is set to very low and fail safes and encryption have been installed. As far as I know, the design is far too sophisticated for any known machine to detect, and the safeguards should be enough to prevent them from being hacked."

"The girls probably shouldn't stand in front of the microwave though," Kenjiro said with a chuckle, but the chuckle died out when his elders didn't find anything funny with his statement. 'Tough crowd…'

-The Infirmary, A day later-

"Come on, Kagome-chan. You don't want to stay here all day, do you?" Sango asked as she guided Kikyou out of her hospital bed. She felt the temporarily visually impaired Kikyou reach out an arm in front of her as she tried for balance.

"You guys go ahead." Kagome responded as normally as she could.

Kikyou, however, sensed something was going on. "Are you in pain, Kagome-chan?"

"Yeah." Kagome finally admitted after a moment.

"I'll stay with you then." Kikyou responded.

"No, you should go. You've been antsy for a long time." Kagome touched the sides of her temples and rubbed against the fabric of the bandages.

"But…"

"I'll be fine. Mama will be back soon. I'll try to meditate when it's quiet." Kagome spoke. She tried to infuse her tone with her usual cheeriness.

"Contact me if you need something, okay?" Kikyou said in resignation and reached out for Sango.

"Hope you feel better soon, Kagome-chan." Sango glanced back at her friend, before guiding Kikyou out of the room.

Kagome tried to focus, but the pounding in her head and sharp, tearing pain, made it difficult to concentrate, despite Sesshoumaru's laborious training. Try as she might, she just couldn't work through them.

Sesshoumaru had waited until he heard Sango and Kikyou had left the wing before walking towards the door to the infirmary. He had only meant to feel his Trainee out from the outside of the room, but he felt her pain and her struggles to ease it.

He entered the Infirmary soundlessly and approached Kagome's hospital bed. He watched as her hands curled into tight fists, her knuckles gradually becoming white from the strain. He watched as her teeth bit down into her lower lip, the fold of flesh reddening deeply. With its own volition, his hand snaked out and covered one tiny fist.

Kagome tensed at the first touch, but began to relax from the warmth that emanated from the hand. "Sesshoumaru-sama…"

"Hai, Kagome." The Youkai Lord murmured. "Focus on my voice, and take a deep breath." He waited until the girl complied. "Exhale slowly as you imagine a wall between you and the pain."

Kagome did as she was told, focusing on the soothing voice from the one who has come to help chase away her pain.

-A few months after the surgery, Eight years ago-

**Kagome, your right!** Sesshoumaru boomed in his mouthpiece as he watched as a Youkai almost caught Kagome unaware.

InuTaisho quietly viewed the scene of the battle on the monitors, but his eyes flittered to Sesshoumaru every time he barked commands specifically at Kagome. He could sense a little disturbance in his son. It was a little peculiar, and warranted a little more observation. He wondered if it would have been better if he had sent his Eldest out to the field also. Would Kagome have fared better or worse, he wondered?

**Your right, Kagome! Watch it!**

Kikyou hazarded a glance at her younger sister who appeared to be struggling. She wasn't sure if it was due to the battle itself or the incessant commands, mostly towards her sister, that were being shouted in their ears.

Today was their debut, their first field mission. Flanked by Inuyasha and Kouga in the front and Meiyo on Kirara at the rear, the girls battled forward, cleaving and purifying the youkai Inuyasha and Kouga deliberately missed for them to "practice" on.

The team was launched after they had tracked a Shikon shard in the vicinity. Burned and putrefied flesh littered the battlegrounds, and the stench they gave off was horrendous to their senses, despite the additional nose/mouth cover the girls wore.

Kikyou slipped on a piece of oozing carcass and fell backwards, luckily or unluckily, on more of the slippery stuff. Her heartbeat suddenly raced in her chest when she saw a flying youkai swoop toward her, taking advantage of her vulnerability. She struggled to raise herself when she saw a flaming arrow hit the youkai between the eyes. It screamed while its whole body burned to nothingness in the space above her.

"Thanks." She breathed out as her youngest sister reached out her hand to pull her up. She watched as Meiyo and Kirara flew passed them to give them cover.

Kagome nodded, a little perturbed by what could have been. She shook it off as best she could and turned her focus elsewhere to avoid thinking about it. "The shard is close…"

"I think it's inside that…" Kikyou said in awe as she pointed towards a gigantic, red-eyed Youkai that had appeared, standing on its rear legs and showing off its long sharp teeth and claws. "Is that a bear?"

The twins watched as Inuyasha and Kouga attacked it from different sides at the same time, but they appeared so small, like flies, compared to their last youkai enemy.

**You are both needed.** Sesshoumaru clipped in their ears.

"One Shikon extraction coming up." Kagome quipped as she ran with her sister towards the big, bad angry youkai.

-InuTaisho's office, The next day-

"Come in, girls, and make yourself comfortable." InuTaisho smiled widely as he directed the ten year olds towards a low table with ocha service and okashi, on a tatami covered alcove by the window. The girls bowed before InuTaisho before kneeling on their respective zabuton.

"Thank you for having us for tea, InuTaisho-sama." Kagome smiled brightly.

"It was nice of you to invite us." Kikyou added.

"It is always a pleasure when you visit. It makes this stuffy room bearable." The Youkai Lord winked as he sat on his cushion. "I must say, you two handled your first field mission very well." He said proudly. "What was your impression of it?"

"It wasn't as bad as I thought…" Kikyou began to say as she watched Kagome pour ocha into the tea cups.

"Oh?" InuTaisho asked leadingly, as he picked up a tea cup.

"I had imagined all sorts of things before we went to battle, but it was really not that bad. There will probably be times when it will be harder." Kikyou reflected.

InuTaisho nodded. "What about you, Kagome?"

Kagome placed her porcelain cup on the table gently. "It was a little hard. There were so many things going on and all the commands at the same time." She laughed nervously.

This eldest son's image flitted in his mind and recalled how concerned he was. "You know… All those commands were given out of concern for your safety. We have never had such young Operatives in the field before."

Kagome nodded. "I know. If it wasn't for them, I would have missed the Youkai that almost got me after I hit the flying Youkai who was after Aneechan."

Kikyou glanced at her younger sister, a little surprised. They hadn't seen the footage of the battle so she had not known about that bit of information. She lowered her arm to her lap, an unbitten okashi still clutched between her thumb and index finger.

Kagome glanced at her sister, took in her withdrawn expression, and continued. "I think the worst part was the smell." Kagome giggled. "We were all covered in muck when we got home. Mama made us bathe in tomato juice and take three showers."

Kikyou began to laugh. "She wouldn't let us hug her until we were clean."

'If I had been there, I would not have let any piece of that muck touch any part of you, my girls.' He wanted to say, but did not. "So what do you think you learned from your first experience?"

"Don't step on Youkai flesh." Kikyou smiled. "It's very slippery." She turned to her younger sister who had giggled again and laid her hand on her arm. "Kagome was great."

"Oh, Aneechan…" Kagome covered her hand with hers. "You were too." Without taking her hand off her sister's, she replied, "I think that the bigger the youkai, the less threatening it really is."

"Oh?" InuTaisho's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the bear Youkai just growled and swiped a lot with his claws, but it wasn't really as bad as the more smaller ones. You transform into a big dog, but you are gentle too."

InuTaisho was a little dumbfounded by her remark. He wasn't sure if he wanted to burst her bubble yet by replying, but he just smiled and patted Kagome's cheek. "Now, I will ask you a very important question, and I want you to be sure about your reply."

"Yes, InuTaisho-sama." Kagome replied while Kikyou nodded.

"Now that you have experienced your first battle, do you want to continue?" He surveyed each of the girl in turn as he waited for them to speak.

Kikyou and Kagome made eye contact with each other, and after a moment, replied as one. "Yes."

To be continued

Glossary:

Ocha – Green tea

Okashi – sweets

Tatami – straw floor mat

Zabuton – floor cushion