The Promise by Azurevi [Whirlwind Romance Challenge]
Seven days. Seven days of training. In the mountains. In a secluded shrine. With a known pervert.
Kagome was doomed.
“Kagome-sama you have quite the ominous cloud over you!” Said pervert remarked cheerfully. “Shall I-”
“Finish that sentence and I swear to Buddha I’ll put subjugation beads on you.” Kagome growled, glaring up at him through her bangs.
“We’re almost there, there’s no call for hostility.” Miroku sighed, managing to genuinely sound hurt.
She paused, considering apologizing, then decided against it.
After their last tussle with one of Naraku’s little cast-offs Miroku had insisted on training her. Everyone had protested until the stupidly gifted con-artist seduced them all with stories of a miko with unsurpassed spiritual power, able to purify with a touch, to erect barriers, to bitch-slap the youki out of any youkai-even their most hated enemy.
Just when they’d all been thoroughly starry-eyed and convinced of Kagome’s massive potential, he thrown in the catch. It would only take seven days of vigorous training. Seven days of training in the mountain shrine he’d grown up in. Alone. With him.
That had snapped Kagome out of her super-miko day dream, she had protested immediately and vehemently for nearly five minutes before she realized that no one else was arguing alongside her. Inuyasha was in fact, already packing her bag. Sango was quietly weighing the options and nodding slowly. Her only backup came from Shippo, who was drilling Miroku with questions.
“Why’s she gotta go to the mountains?”
“Because the purity of the air will help clear her head of distractions and pollutants.”
“Why’s it gotta be with you?”
“Because I am the only other person in our group with spiritually-based powers.”
“Why’s it gotta be ALONE with you?”
“For Kagome-sama to properly focus, all external stimulation must be removed. If you went along she’d be nurturing you, if Sango came along she’d be confiding in her, if Inuyasha came then she’d continue to rely on his strength to protect her. Kagome must have self-confidence, belief in her own abilities and have a desire to nurture those abilities to fruition.”
“… Okay. But you’d better behave yourself Miroku!”
“I promise you I will only give Kagome-sama the kind of attention she desires.”
They’d bade fair-well to their companions the same day and Kirara had agreed to take them to Miroku’s shrine. Armed only with her backpack and bow with no Inuyasha to back her up, Kagome was feeling alarmingly vulnerable.
She was pretty sure that Miroku was earnest in his desire to train her and focused on defeating Naraku but the houshi did have a bit of a tendency to get… sidetracked.
“There it is!” Miroku pointed excitedly with his Shakujou at the impressive structure that Kagome suspected was built off the profitability of palm-reading and ominous cloud expelling. “Home!”
She felt a smile tug at her lips at his boyish enthusiasm and let herself relax enough to enjoy the descent. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad Monday after all.