-Chapter 9-

Claps of thunder broke out with blinding flashes of light clawing across the gray clouded sky. A single drop of rain fell, landing on the tip of a black leather shoe. Amber eyes gazed longingly up to the heavens, more drops of rain hitting tan skin below. Long silver hair swayed with the winds of foreboding, a sign that promised death.

Gunfire was such a familiar sound. It was like background noise, though there was no battle to see. More lightning came, the white button down shirt of a figure seeming to glow with each flash.

"Yasha."

'That voice...'

It was sadistic and smooth, almost coaxing, yet unnerving at the same time. A voice something told him he had heard many times before, somewhere.

Yasha felt himself turn to look over his shoulder, the storm he had been watching still active. His eyes slightly widened at the person who had spoken. With a particularly well timed combination of thunder and lightning, the newcomer stood to be clearly seen.

His longer jet black hair swayed with the stormy winds, wearing an old bleach white coat and dress pants. His glasses caught the light of the storm, high cheek bones saying he was also Japanese.

'Why is he so familiar?' Yasha wondered, his mental tone almost afraid. He didn't understand it. The figure seemed so intimidating, and again something told him this man had rights to be feared. Yet the intensity of that fear he was feeling, almost childlike, confused him greatly.

"What are you doing here?" Yasha then asked, his tone uncertain.

The figure chuckled knowingly. "You can never escape me, boy. Even without your true memories."

Yasha scowled, anger coming to the surface. "The hell do you know about my memories? I don't even know you!" This made no sense.

The figure smirked; a taunting gleam in his eyes, before the lighting around them went red and the earth beneath began to tremble. Yasha lost his footing, hitting hard on the ground, but oddly feeling no pain. The man just stood there as if nothing had happened, a haughty smirk on his face. Being looked down upon made the anger in Yasha's chest boil to full on rage.

Practically jumping to his feet, Yasha pulled out a gun he didn't know he had, and fired four rounds. "You ruined my LIFE!" He heard himself scream, another particularly loud boom of thunder accenting his strange statement.

However when the bullets ran out, and the chaos cleared just a little, Yasha looked at the man he had no doubt killed, only to see another in his place. There was a large pool of blood around the body, more than there should have been for one shot to the chest.

For some reason panic struck Yasha at his core, and he found himself running, the scene around him changing. The solid ground became tiled flooring, walls faded in around him to make up a hallway and blinding lights shined down overhead.

Skidding to his knees, Yasha suddenly felt very small and afraid, putting a hand to the face of the man. It wasn't clear enough to really see, but again something in the back of Yasha's mind told him what he needed to know. In a chocked sob as tears rushed down his cheeks out of seemingly nowhere, he voiced a word he hadn't known he truly knew.

"Otou-san!"

Another unexpected bang, from a gun, and everything suddenly felt very cold. Knowing he had been shot, Yasha felt his body go limp and fall to the side as blood splashed out. Unable to move, he saw the shoes of someone, female by the looks of it. She walked up to him, and Yasha dared to glance up at her face. He would have widened his eyes if he could have.

"Kagome?!"

Yasha shoved the sheets off, eyes wide as he heaved for air.

Shirt damp with sweat, he frantically looked around and even felt himself for any bullet holes. Nothing. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, his heart still racing. Looking around, Yasha realized he was 'back' safely in his own apartment. He felt an odd sense of déjà vu. How long ago had this same thing happened? Frustration welled in his chest. Less than a week ago.

With a huff Yasha pushed himself out of bed and flicked the lights on. The room was a mess as usual; various articles of clothing scattered everywhere from the white carpeted floor to the few pieces of furniture he had. His workspace wasn't any better. Blueprints, incomplete gun models, and bullets lay in disarray on the desk.

Yasha walked over to the chair in front of his desk, plopping down with exhaustion despite his pent up emotions. Feeling his mind smooth over the immediate shock of being jolted awake for the second time, he sorted through what he could remember from his dream.

This time the first thing he remembered was Kagome's face. An intense amount of agitation came with this. 'She shot me, again.' He ran a hand through his dampened hair with a groan. 'The fuck does all this shit even mean?!'

Besides that, he remembered feeling afraid. Bragging rights aside, he never felt that fearful of one specific person ever, even in his dreams. That was a very odd first for him.

Then an idea struck him. Yasha's eyes widened. 'The mission. Before I talked to Sango. That guy-' and then he knew the figure's name.

"Ketry." Yasha muttered under his breath, remembering how ominously the man had introduced himself.

'Good' He thought. 'At least some stuff makes sense.' Ketry had been the man who'd wanted to see him in the middle of that mission. The one who told him all the escape routes he and Sango had planned were blocked. But it had been so much more. 'That bastard knows about me, my past. Maybe all of it.'

Perhaps that was why he had been angry as well. Even now the thought of it made him want to punch something. Someone else possibly knew more about him then he did, an enemy no less. After all the time he had spent trying to get answers, it had been that close to him all along. He grit his teeth, trying to rein in his emotions. He'd been dealing with the news for only a few days and it was driving him crazy. He was supposed to have told Boushin about the incident, but after everything that had happened-

Yasha sighed for what had to be the hundredth time, the sound turning into more of a growl. His eyes wandered to the nightstand, where his trusty Desert Eagles rested by the alarm clock. He felt that desperate impulsive side of him rising to the surface, something that came out only when his head was too overloaded.

'A few rounds at base couldn't hurt.' If he got lucky, maybe he'd run into Boushin and shoot him by 'accident'. Yasha scoffed bitterly while getting a change of clothes, that same anger burning anew.

His heart still ached with the loss of his partner, and at this point he just didn't know what to do. He was still dealing with emotions he had little to no skill controlling, and it was seeping into other areas of his life. Constantly on edge, even more irritable than usual-how the hell was he going to handle a mentor assignment that way?

Walking to the small bathroom and turning the shower on, he wanted nothing more than to just wish the last week had never happened.

"Fuck my life."

-[]-[]-[]-

Waking up to the blaring of an alarm clock, Kagome pressed the snooze button groggily. Chilly morning air had goose bumps spreading across her skin, a yawn escaping her. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking to clear the blurriness away.

Staring at the plain cream color of the wall across the room, the girl was bluntly reminded of just how bare her life now was. This wasn't her room, it wasn't painted that stupid shade of pink her mother had insisted on keeping it, and her furniture wasn't there. Her closet, her clothes, her pictures, her hopes and dreams-none of it even existed anymore. It would never be the same.

Almost immediately images of her deceased family's faces flashed through her thoughts, and Kagome whimpered, shutting her eyes tight as that familiar sting hit her eyes. She forced herself to breathe, shaky and pathetic as it sounded. She wanted nothing more than to breakdown again. She'd been fighting it since she'd gotten here; this rebellion base that was now her only life supporter for the sake of some higher scheme she still knew little about despite her talk with Miroku the day before.

Her alarm resumed its noise making, and Kagome picked the thing up and switched it off manually. Staring at the time, it read barely past seven. She sighed a heavy emotion filled sigh, before forcing herself out of the plain old bed she'd slept in. She walked almost brain dead to the simple metal dresser at the corner of her living space, seeing only a few sets of basic plain T-shirts, jeans, and underclothes of various sizes.

'Good enough...' She thought, grabbing what she needed.

Just as she had finished drying her hair with a towel among the few that had been provided, there was a light knock at the door.

"Kagome? It's Myoga."

Kagome peeked out from the bathroom doorway with a frown and sighed. 'Just who I want to see me depressed. The counselor.' Of course, after checking to see her eyes weren't too red, she opened the door anyway.

The pointed nosed man put on an unnecessarily big smile at seeing her. "Good morning my dear. I hope you slept well!"

The peppiness of this guy made Kagome do a mental eye twitch. 'What's his problem?' "Uhm, yeah I did." She looked past him to look both ways of the hallway. "Is there-anything you need? I kind of have to finish getting ready."

This seemed somehow amusing to the counselor and he gave a merry laugh. It was kind of creepy. "Ahaha, yes of course! I was simply stopping by to give you your temporary ID pass for the building, so you don't get held up and make a fuss about getting lost."

Kagome blinked confusedly at him for a moment as the information slowly processed before said ID card was hastily placed in her right hand. Without a real reply she looked down at it as Myoga went on. "Also in regards to your training, the sparring room is actually just down the hall from here. You'll see the label on the door. From what I hear, you're to be there in about an hour."

Looking back up, Kagome simply nodded. She'd forgotten to ask about directions anyway so it'd worked out.

Myoga nodded back. "Right then! Best of luck today! You'll need it with Eiyuu as your mentor." He said with a grim tone at the end that surprised the girl.

"Uh, okay then. Thanks Myoga." And with that she closed her door with another loaded sigh. Today was going to be long. Very long.

Looking back down at her temporary ID card, Kagome narrowed her eyes to look at the strange bar code on the back with the label 'guest' in bold black font underneath. 'So I'm a guest for now, huh?' She thought bitterly. Somehow she found herself wondering what it would be like if or when she got a more official card pass.

Sometime later, Kagome found herself staring at the sparring room's main door. It was sealed shut with a pass lock and scanner-thing, and she figured this was why Myoga had given her that card so soon. She stepped up slowly with it in hand, hesitating only a moment before taking a deep breath and letting herself in.

"You're late." That unpleasant tone from a familiar voice had Kagome scowling almost instantly.

Stepping past the threshold, she ignored the immediate surroundings (and the stench of sweat) in favor of a pointed glare at her new mentor, Yasha. Clenching her jaw to stifle a heated come back, she looked to see a clock hanging on the wall across the room. It read 7:58 am.

She couldn't help herself. "It's not even 8 o' clock yet! I'm early."

Yasha looked at her void of any real expression, stating in an equally bland tone, "That clock's five minutes slow."

It took her a moment to process that, and realizing she was in the wrong, she deflated herself with a tired "...oh."

Kagome didn't notice it but there was a brief pause in Yasha's reaction time upon her answer. He seemed to take note of something, the slightest twitch of his brow, before speaking again as if nothing had happened. "Now to make up for your tardiness, there will be no break in between lessons today."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me."

This got her attention and energy starting up again real fast. "What the heck is your problem? Is this really how you expect to teach me? Because running my face into the ground from exhaustion won't get you anywhere."

"Two days without break." Yasha snapped without further explanation.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him, hands balling into fists. Her whole demeanor spoke anger. "I'm not playing this game with you. I've been through a lot of crap already because of you people, and I-"

"So has everyone else here!" Yasha interrupted loudly, his voice echoing off the walls. "People here have lost just as much if not more than you. So if you want to move on and get on with your life, you need to stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself, like you deserve special treatment. It's fucking pathetic." His voice carried frustration, but he somehow maintained his cold exterior.

Reacting almost as if she'd been slapped, Kagome took a step back for a second, before coming back with dangerous fire in her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" She found herself yelling. "So WHAT if I'm feeling sorry for myself? I just lost my whole LIFE all OVER again, and you, jackass, have NO place lecturing me on-"

A laugh stopped her speech. A full on laugh. "Listen to yourself. Your telling me about my place, when you don't even know yours." Yasha walked up almost right in Kagome's face, clearly provoking her, as she seethed under his infuriating stare. "I'm your mentor. It is my place to lecture you, to teach you a lesson. And the first one you're still too stupid to realize for some reason, is here, moral luxuries don't exist. You screw up, you die." The way he finished the last bit was so cold hearted and cruel, Kagome was completely stunned speechless. Her anger froze to nothing, and she almost felt like crying again. "If you feel sorry for yourself, you'll feel sorry for others just as quick. Don't ever get to that point, ever." He pocked a finger at her shoulder to accent his point.

The force of it actually pushed Kagome back, and her eyes were wide in almost horror. She started shaking, staring but not really looking at Yasha's cold discolored eyes. Her vision blurred, and she could feel herself start to crumble again.

Until she caught herself, and looked down at the floor.

"...Is, is that the crap they told you? Or did you just figure that on your own?" She said slowly, hesitantly.

Yasha looked at her, surprised.

Her fists trembling but her voice strangely calm, Kagome fought the emotions nearly overriding her head, forcing herself to speak. "That's pretty sad, that you would give up your humanity like that." And before she could stop it, a couple tears ran down her cheeks, to the red padded floor she stood on. Taking a deep breath, Kagome looked back up at her now stunned mentor, a unwavering expression of confidence on her face that she herself couldn't feel. "But... maybe we both just have a lot to learn."

To her surprise, Yasha sighed. For him especially though, it was uncalled for. After everything that had been said, all the anger and frustration he had been feeling just under the surface and taking out on everyone, he let it go, for that one second. "Let's just-start training."

The statement startled her. "W-What?" Kagome all but mumbled out. "Maybe we shouldn't-"

"I said, let's start training." Yasha cut in, the look in his eyes saying more than he ever would with words.

Kagome stared at him for a moment, pondering. 'He's tactless, temperamental, and really guarded but-for some reason, somehow, I can't hate him.'

So straightening her posture, she gave a nod of consent with a small gleam in her eye. "Yes sir." She earned an eye roll for that, but she could feel the mood lighten. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

-[]-[]-[]-

The room was quiet, damp, and dark. The air smelled stagnant and stuffy, and there was the distant sound of water dripping somewhere.

In the shadows a woman lay on the cold concrete floor, barely regaining consciousness from the way her movements gradually increased. She softly moaned, her wrists and ankles tied together with something. Not rope or plastic, but something. Moving her head around, she flinched slightly at the soreness in her neck from the awkward position she had been knocked out in.

Feeling crept back into the rest of her body, and with a start, she remembered the bullet wound in her thigh, and the cuts and bruises on almost every inch of her legs and arms. What were they from though?

'Where-where am I?' Sango groggily wondered, attempting to peer through the darkness around her, but finding nothing to give her answer. It almost felt as if her eyes were still closed, as if she were dreaming.

She knew better.

With the pain from her (old?) wounds coming back with a vengeance after going untreated for who knew how long, Sango felt her breathing speed up and she clenched her teeth to bear it. Something had to be infected. She felt warm. Way too warm to be normal.

"I see you've regained consciousness, woman of Phasmatis." A man spoke through the lightless unknown, his voice echoing out like a ghost's.

Sango felt herself jolt in surprise, but quickly put herself on guard. Her expression hardened, and she tensed up, despite her pain. "W-Who are you? Show y-yourself!" She called out fearlessly though her speech wavered from fatigue.

A chuckle was the response she got. "It would be just like you to stare down an enemy before the slaughter, wouldn't it, Sango Takaoki?"

Sango furrowed her brows, secretly becoming panicked. "Ho-how do you know m-my name? I d-demand to know who you are!" she finished angrily.

Without another word, lights flashed on from above, blinding Sango at first, and she shielded her eyes out of reflex. However, after blinking a few times and allowing her sight to adjust, she searched around. There was a single light shining down on her, a spotlight almost, and just barely in view, was the face that belonged to that mysterious shadow.

When she caught sight of him, shock and disbelief nearly consumed her.

"You-!"