Petals of Fate by one_winged

Chapter One

Italics denote thoughts

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she noted that it was 5 minutes to closing time. Stretching her back, she yawned before deciding to call it a day. Judging at the number of customers they had today, it was very unlikely someone would turn up at this time of the day. Sango was on the morning shift today so she had left earlier leaving her alone in the little store.

Flipping the sign over to 'Close', she locked the door and made her way to the back room which served as an employees' lounge as well as a store room. Plopping down on a chair, she stretched out her legs under the table before giving in to yet another yawn.

*scratch* *scratch*

Her eyes shot open. She glanced around but everything seemed to be in its proper place. It couldn't be a mouse for Sango's cat, Kirara, would have taken care of it. Straining her ears for the noise again, she was only met with silence. Dismissing it as a figment of her imagination, she stood up and grabbed her bag, preparing to leave for the comforts of home.

*scratch* *scratch*

The minute her ears detected the noise, all her senses went on alert. It seemed to be coming from outside, just beyond the back door. If anything, the scratching sound was louder this time accompanied by a slight shuffling.

Burglars, she thought, dropping her bag on the table and reached instead for a nearby baseball bat that they kept in case of emergencies like this.

Steeling her nerves, she gripped the bat tightly in her hands as she made her way to the door. No one is getting into the store, not on my watch!

Flinging the door open, she was prepared to hit first and ask later but there was no one there. The only thing that met her was the cool night breeze and a dark, silent alley.

That's weird. I swear I heard those sounds, she thought to herself, while glancing up and down the empty lane. Could it be I'm hearing things?

As if on cue, she heard the noise again and it seemed to be coming from beneath the pile of empty cardboard boxes to her left. Eyeing it warily, she poked the bottommost box with her bat.

She knew of many sounds that could possibly be emitted from under the box but a short, muffled gasp was not one of them. Kami knows, she was expecting a squeak or a mew, but definitely not a gasp. Well, unless kittens started gasping and nobody bothered to tell her about it.

Taking a deep breath, she bent down and pushed all the cardboard boxes away. An ear piercing shriek as well as a pair of wildly thrashing arms greeted her.

"GO AWAY!"

"What – Hey! Stop it! Ouch!" she exclaimed as a little fist met with her cheek causing her to stumble backwards.

Quickly regaining her balance, Kagome did the only thing she could think of at that time. She grabbed both the offending fists and held them up causing their owner to let out a frightened squeak.

"Eh?"

Surprise was evident in her voice as her blue eyes settled upon the form of a little girl who was trembling hard with fear written all over her face.

"Who-"

She was cut short when she felt her miko senses tingle like they always did whenever youkai was near. Expanding her aura, she could feel the youkai or rather youkais more clearly now. There were three of them, and by what she could feel, they were not exactly very powerful ones. Nothing she couldn't handle, if the need arises.

A shout from one of the approaching youkais announced their presence in the alley.

"The brat's in here and there's another bitch with her!"

The little girl started trembling harder than ever.

"They're here. They've found Rin. Now they will kill Rin."

What the hell? Kagome thought to herself. She may have just come across the child about five minutes ago but there was no way in hell she's going to let her come to harm.

"I want you to go through the door and stay inside okay? Don't come out until I come for you," she said calmly to the younger girl while pulling her gently to her feet.

"Don't worry; I won't let them get you. Now hurry on inside."

Nodding, the younger girl ran inside. Not wanting the child to see her in a fight, she closed the door before confronting the youkai.

"Hand over the brat if you know what's good for you!" one of the youkais said.

He only received a chuckle as a response.

"You should go back the way you came if you know what's good for you," she said.

The one standing in the middle, obviously the leader of the little group, said, "It's time we teach the filthy human some manners, boys!"

With that, the two youkai beside him lunged at her, intent on disemboweling her with their claws. However, her reflexes were too fast for them. She sidestepped them neatly and before they knew it, Kagome had delivered a punch to each youkai's jaw.

"Too slow boys," she taunted, "I thought demons were supposed to be faster than this."

The two demons growled and made for her again. She was tired and fighting off youkais was not something she wanted to do after a long day of work and classes. Not wanting to waste her time fighting them, she quickly shot two bolts of her miko power at them. They turned into ashes before they could open their mouths to scream.

The remaining youkai was absolutely furious.

"Bitch! You'll pay for this!" he shouted as he leapt at her.

Kagome quickly dodged him, accidentally grazing her elbow on the wall. Huffing at her own carelessness, she took it out on the youkai by shooting a bolt of her miko power at him. He turned into ashes with a horrible shriek that seemed to echo in the alley.

"That's what you get when you mess with Higurashi Kagome!" she said to whatever remained of the three youkai that she had purified just minutes earlier.

She turned to enter the shop once again, only to find the previously closed door already open and a wide-eyed young girl staring up at her. From the look in her eyes, she had been watching for the whole duration of the fight between Kagome and the youkais.

Kami, I must've scarred her for life, she thought while trying to come up with some sort of explanation regarding the necessity of youkai purification in this case to the girl. She believed that no matter how evil they were, it was simply wrong to take another's life, be they human or demon.

"Erm...well...you see..."

She didn't get to say another word as the young girl suddenly flung herself onto Kagome. Her two small arms were wrapped tightly around the older girl's midsection.

"Thank you, onee-chan! You saved Rin from the baddies!" she cried out.

"Oh, erm, you're welcome. Come on, let's go into the shop before you catch a cold," Kagome said, gently detaching the girl's arms from her body and leading her into the shop.

"Okay, Rin-chan," Kagome asked, kneeling down on one knee so that she was at eye level with the girl, "can you remember your mommy or daddy's phone number?"

The previously happy looking brown eyes looked downcast all of a sudden causing the older girl to wonder at the abrupt change.

Was it something I said?

"Rin – "

"Rin doesn't have a mommy," the little girl answered sadly, her eyes fixed on the tiled floor.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Rin-chan," Kagome said quietly.

Silence hovered between the two of them. Kagome was at a loss as to what to say next. She didn't want to make the girl more miserable than she already is. However, Rin's soft voice broke the silence.

"Can Rin call daddy?"

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read. =)