A/N: And I’m semi back. Life is hectic, but I’m trying to start this new story. All in drabble form, of course. Updates will probably be inconsistant, but I will do my best. Please enjoy! (I don’t own Inuyasha. Diclaimer for all the following chapters.)
Exposed
“Scientists have found the gene for shyness. They would have found it years ago, but it was hiding behind a couple of other genes.”
-Jonathon Katz
“One of life’s primal situations; the game of hide and seek. Oh, the delicious thrill of hiding while others come looking for you, the delicious terror of being discovered, but what panic when, after a long search, the others abandon you! You musn’t hide too well. You musn’t be too good at the game. The players must never be bigger than the game itself.”
-Jean Baudrillard
The first time Kagome noticed a presence not quite in synch with the natural aura of the shrine was a few years after the well had closed. Wearing an oversized, paint-stained t-shirt and cargo shorts, Kagome fisted her hands in soft soil as she struggled to decimate the weed population that was slowly overtaking her mother’s azaleas.
For the most part the shrine always had a smooth aura, like vanilla and spring and warmth hidden in a cool breeze. Wiping a hand across her sweat dampened forehead, Kagome sat back. Something prickled against her senses. Something sharp and aggressive and distinctly out-of-place. With a shocked intake of breath, her gaze flew to the well house, then past it, because whatever it was, it was out there.
After a few tense seconds, where Kagome wavered between curiosity and wariness, it faded away. She didn’t breathe until her lungs finally ached and screamed enough at her that she was forced to intake the unpolluted, holy air.
It was the first youkai Kagome had encountered in years, and it left her exuberant and shaky. As she went back to weeding, she slowly began to formulate all the ways she could unpeel the mortal reality of Tokyo in search of the hidden demon underneath.