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Not much else to say, but here it is, the revised chapter 3!

Disclaimer: This is fan-fiction, and as such, all anime/manga/series etc. belong to their respective creators. I own nothing.

Chapter 3: The Fighting Princess…

"speaking/thinking inside flashback."
'Thinking'/flashback
""hollow speaking.""

She thinks things through, and circumstance leads her to him.

"Right! So a fighting princess!"

With an exhale, transparent lashes lowered over just as transparent blue eyes, bored, as the owner of said eyes released a string of arrows at the hoard of hollow coming for her, all open-mouthed and their eyes glinting in the craze of hunger.

It figured that when she followed the call for help, the one hollow she expected turned out to be a group. No matter how she tried not to, she always ended up in the worst possible situations. Like there was sign on her forehead, saying 'hello! Free meal here! Come on down!'. 'Well…' she reconsidered, 'I did kind of walk straight into this one, though…'

Briefly, her head turned to behind her, eyes moving to where two small forms were crouched together and shaking behind a group of trashcans. She let out a small sigh. 'It can't be helped; I really am too softhearted for my own good.'

Kami knew how many times that was said to her while alive, but the thought was without any malice and for a second she wanted to grin – until it occurred to her that someone else, more recently, would probably agree with that sentiment. That had her narrowing her eyes instead.

In fact, if he saw her now, Kagome wasn't sure how he'd react. It's only been a few days and she was already annoyed at the restrictions the shinigami captain – Toushirou she remembered – gave her.

After being properly acquainted, (if it could be called that) the shinigami immediately started telling her the rules she'd have to follow if she wanted to roam until she 'did whatever it was she was adamant about doing.'

His exact words.

Kagome frowned. Did he have to be so…curt about it? She knew they got off to a bad start, but she didn't think he'd be that closed off. 'But…' she remembered, wincing. 'Not like I helped matters, either…'

"Higurashi?"

"I…" the grin on her face fell at the blank look he gave her. "Yes. Higurashi Kagome. It's err…nice to meet you…?"

She trailed off as his name escaped her. What was it again? She knew he already introduced himself. At the time though, she was more preoccupied by his presence than learning his name. She also didn't think she'd have to. Why know the name of a shinigami she was only going to meet once?

But joke's on her, she did need a name. She didn't think he'd be too happy if she called him 'shinigami' or 'Chibi-taichou' all the time. "I'm sorry…what was…?"

The shinigami stared at her, eyebrow raised, and Kagome grimaced at how pathetic her voice sounded. "Um…"

Thankfully, the shinigami got the hint or took pity on her, because he spoke up, giving a single nod. "It's Hitsugaya Toushirou."

'Hitsugaya Toushirou.' In a murmur only she could hear, Kagome marked the name in her memory so she wouldn't forget it again, and forced a small smile. "Right. Nice to meet you, Toushir—."

"Hitsugaya-taichou," he interrupted.

"—ou. What?" Kagome drew back at how quickly the captain spoke, surprised.

Toushirou stared back, eyes narrowed. He was serious. "You will call me Hitsugaya-taichou."

"I – what—?"

"And there are rules you'll need to follow if I'm going to allow you to run around freely. First however, you are going to tell me what you need to do that's so important you won't go to Soul Society."

Kagome was still reeling from his quick insistence she call him 'Hitsugaya-taichou', but sobered at the last thing he said. After straightening to her full height – which, truthfully, wasn't impressive (she was taller than he was though, and that was all that mattered) – gave Hitsugaya a single word in reply. "No."

Toushirou's eyes sharpened at her refusal. "No? You're adamant about staying; if you want my help then you'll—."

"No." this time, it was her turn to interrupt. "I can't. I'll follow your rules, but I can't tell you the reason."

"Can't, or won't?"

Kagome turned her eyes away at the knowing look Toushirou sent her. She refused to give in. It was silent, tense, until Hitsugaya closed his eyes and looked away. "Very well," he sighed, frustrated. "Can you at least tell me when?"

This she could do, so she nodded and said, "Near the beginning of winter."

'Yeah…probably didn't help matters much.' she consented.

After that, things took a turn for the worst. Not bad – there wasn't more arguing, thankfully – yet, as the conversation went on, Kagome found herself less and less happy with this 'deal' they had. She was allowed to stay in the human world, but that's where it ended in her favor.

The rest of the agreement fell in Toushirou's, and he was clear on the rules he wanted her to follow. They were of the usual, 'stay hidden, don't be seen by other shinigami', 'don't do anything stupid', and others of that sort.

While it was annoying he thought he had to tell her, the whole 'stay hidden' part wouldn't be hard. She wasn't keen on being seen in the first place, so not a big change for her. And unless it's some type of unavoidable emergency, she's sure she'll be able to hide from other shinigami.

'The second condition though…' she mused, idly tapping a finger against the glowing bow she held in her hand. 'Will be harder to follow, because the whole 'don't do something stupid' could mean anything…'

A roar had Kagome blinking back into focus, once, twice, and there, as a perfect example – another hollow was charging at her, much like the two before it.

Kagome gave it a moment to get closer, then lifted her bow and released another arrow at the thing's head. 'Does killing hollow count as stupid to him?' she watched the hollow fade away into dust, and decided that even if it did, she didn't care. 'He never specified. I'll go by my own definition. And killing hollow, to me, isn't stupid.'

Nope, it fought off boredom, allowed her to release her reiatsu (careful though, don't want Chibi-taichou to sense it and use it as an excuse to send her to Soul Society!), all the while allowing her to do something good for the resident dead community.

A three for three in her opinion…

Besides, she'll need it to vent any annoyance that may come up due to the last and most important condition Hitsugaya made very clear. The one that did bother her.

She can't go home.

She's forced to stay here in this town – Karakura – he called it. She can't leave Karakura town.

She can travel anywhere in Karakura, leaving however, was forbidden. Her current 'guardian' is stationed here for the unforeseeable future and as he so delicately put it, 'didn't want to go chasing after her' which meant she's stuck here in the meantime.

"And if you try to leave I'll know."

Kagome snorted. Ha! He'll know her foot! Shinigami captain or not, he can't even sense her to begin with. She knew this since she was able to surprise him twice already! He may not have mentioned it, but he didn't have to. She could see it in the way he acted the first time, and the second, when she could sense his reiatsu spike a little.

Granted yeah, she wasn't much better at first, with all the reiatsu messing up her own senses. By their second meeting though, even if it was fuzzy, she could pick out his reiatsu enough to sense the flicker. 'If he couldn't sense me those times, I don't see how he could now…'

Two more roars, and once again, Kagome was firing arrows. Twin arrows for each, and the soul barely blinked as the two hollow were sent flying and pinned to the buildings behind them.

As both disintegrated Kagome furrowed her brow. 'What could've changed? I can't sense anything abnormal. I don't think he did anything.' the frown was back on her face. 'I shouldleave out of spite…he'll never notice and I'm sure that as soon as I'm gone, he'll forget all about the 'annoying' soul.'

It was a good idea. She would've gone through with it too, but even though it seemed like it wasn't hard to do, that was a big, fat, lie. Leaving this infuriating town was harder than she thought!

She's never traveled this far out so she has no clue how to head back the way she came, not by memory. Nor can she cheat and follow any spiritual-print she may have left on the way here. It's been almost a week – 4 almost 5 days, by her count – so any that was there is long gone by now.

Not that she left much of one in the first place, but it was her own reiryoku. It would've been easy enough to follow. 'If I headed back that first night…' Kagome thought, 'I would've found my way, at least far enough I could recognize my surroundings. But nope, had to be paranoid. Look where that got me.'

She should've taken the risk. After running from Toushirou's sight, she found a spot to settle, set a barrier, and waited. She didn't want to chance him finding her again, and the only way was to wait behind a barrier for a few hours.

So she did. Once she was sure Toushirou was gone, she lifted her barrier and started making her way only to run into a hollow. Which led to her chasing it to kill it, and from there, that one hollow led to another, and another, and another, all the way until she ran into Hitsugaya a second time.

Which then led to their chase, and at that point, she had no hope finding her way back. Any reiatsu she left was all over the place and she only ended up in circles. As a last-ditch effort, she tried following road signs, yet those too proved useless. None of the nearby town names were familiar to her. A map might be able to help but that's a little hard to get, considering she's dead and can't actually pick one up to look at.

'Oh, and let's not forget about the lovely addition to this town…' she thought next, sarcastic, inwardly steaming for finding the most interesting of towns to get stuck in.

""Damn you! I will kill you for your interference!""

Hollow are in abundance here. If Kagome didn't know better, she would've thought they bred here. Sure, Tokyo had its fair share of hollow, but nothing like this. Back home, she'd run into a hollow once every few days, maybe more if she decided to travel throughout the wards. Here? She's running into a hollow almost every hour it felt like!

Luckily, most of what she'd encountered have been weaklings, hardly worth the arrows she used to purify them, but there have been a few that could've caused trouble if left to their own devices.

This group for example. While embarrassingly weak – barely managed to appear on her senses, even as a group – she only became aware of them because of the scream she followed. That alone made them dangerous.

If she could barely sense them, she knew it was the same for the shinigami, which meant the group would've gone unnoticed until one or more became strong enough to register as a threat. That required souls – souls she wouldn't risk. 'Better to get rid of them now.'

What was frustrating though – wasn't all the hollow, weak or not, but what was attracting them here. 'It's because of all the spiritual pressure.' Was her next thought, annoyed. 'It's acting like a beacon.' Many people here had reiryoku…too many for her to count on her hands. That was bad.

It called hollow. Like the last of the pack still trying to eat her.

""Die, bitch! Your soul will be ours!""

Higurashi Kagome, temporary (involuntary) resident of Karakura town turned her attention to the annoying, ear-splitting voice.

She stared at the long snake-like hollow that came at her, two more behind it. "Yeah, yeah," she replied, lifting her bow and drawing her hand back again. Four arrows formed in a straight line across the bow as she narrowed her eyes in concentration. "I've heard all that before."

She finished her statement by opening her hand, and as if she let go of a bowstring, the four arrows flew through the air like bullets. Two hit the shake hollow in the eyes – the one that yelled at her – and the last two flew passed to hit the remaining hollow on their masks.

The three screamed as they died. Kagome observed with detached interest – she could only see something so many times before it became boring – and was more focused on the area around her in case the sound alerted anything.

'Wouldn't be good to have more hollow show up, or another shinigami.'

The dead-miko allowed a moment to pass, then another to be sure, and when she still couldn't sense or see anything show up, relaxed.

Kagome sighed and let her bow vanish. Dealing with hollow was exhausting. Mostly because it was always the same thing. "Never anything new to say…" she shook her head, smirking. "After all these years, you'd think they'd finally learn new lines. It's always 'I will eat your soul!' or 'die! I'll kill you!' seriously…"

She trailed off. Shook her head again and turned to face the two that were the pack's original targets. They were still hiding, and from where she stood, Kagome could see that they also were still trembling.

Sympathy panged at the sight and her expression immediately softened, as did her voice when she called out to them. "You can come out now, the monsters are gone." she didn't want to scare them, not more than they already were. 'No need to make it worse.'

The top of a head peaked out from the side of the trashcans after she spoke, but other than that, the two didn't move. She tried again, "it's alright. The monsters are really gone." she smiled, trying to be reassuring. "I promise."

Her second attempt worked. The head went back behind the trashcan, and this time, after some shuffling – two forms exited. They paused, as if still unsure, then started running to her, almost frantic, as if they expected more hollow to appear out of nowhere and attack them.

'If you consider all the reiatsu around though…' she admitted, watching the souls. They were only kids. 'I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.' She has no clue why there's so many spiritual beings here.

Now that her senses were clear, she could tell most were shinigami. Specks of red, they dotted Karakura town. Quite a few spiritually aware humans were among the mix as well, and she swore she could sense a Quincy or two. 'Been a while since I've sensed one of those, even if the second flickers in and out of existence.'

The soul crossed her arms over her chest. Tapped a finger against her forearm as she sensed, counted. 'Then there's those beings…' Another group of reiatsu she could feel that was…weird. No matter how she tried to figure it out, she had no clue what they were.

Kagome bit her lip. 'Shinigami…?' they were red, but muddled – tainted. Not necessarily bad, just…off. 'That doesn't make any sense though…and it's blurred. Fuzzy. I can't get a good reading. I could be wrong.' Either way, she knew something was there, something not quite right – and it was reason enough for Kagome to stay away. At least until she knew what they were.

Still, that was only one mystery of the many Karakura had. 'This town is weird.' An understatement, but she shouldn't point fingers. She was weird too. 'At least I fit in here!' she attempted for the thought to be amused, yet it only came out weary – tired even – as she kept her gaze on the two kid souls. Now that they were closer, she saw that they were a boy and girl.

The girl was older by a few years, judging from their height. Maybe eight or nine, compared to the boy's five or six. She was also braver. As they ran, the girl was in the lead. She held the boy's hand in her own as she pulled him behind her, face and eyes set in determination despite the watery, scared gleam of them. She was trying her hardest not to cry.

It broke Kagome's heart. 'It's not fair. They shouldn't have to deal with this. The shinigami have to know that having so much reiatsu in one place is putting other souls in danger, so why?'

These two are the first souls that she's gone out of her way to save, but there were others. Those that ran before she could say anything to them. She's also seen more, hidden or scared-looking.

For the souls to be this scared… 'What's going on here?' she wondered, looking around the empty street as if it held her answers. It didn't and she turned a saddened gaze back to the kids. They were near enough now that she realized they were siblings. Both had the same hair color and similar facial features.

The only striking differences were their eyes and hairstyle. The girl's eyes were a light, almost golden brown and her black hair was cut to her shoulders, held back with two clips on either side of her head. The boy's in contrast were dark; the color of chocolate and his hair was cut short to his scalp. 'How sad. Must've been an accident—.'

Kagome's thoughts cut off when the two children rammed into her. The force of the impact caught her off guard – she wasn't expecting this, thought they would stop before reaching her – and she was forced to take a step back to steady herself.

Two pairs of arms wrapped around her then, tight, shaking, and there was a small stab of pain in her chest at the familiarity behind the actions, but the miko ignored it by placing a smile on her face. "Hey, hey. It's alright." She soothed. Both kids only gripped her tighter, still shaking so much it started to make her shake.

'You poor things.' gently, so she wouldn't startle them, the miko placed a hand on each of the kids' head, trying to give comfort where she could. "I know. I'm sorry you had to go through that. The monsters are gone, you guys are safe, I promise."

The girl looked up at her. Tears fell from her brown eyes, no longer determined but scared. "R-really?" she questioned, sniffling. The girl unwrapped her arms from Kagome's waist to wrap them around the boy as he continued to cry into the older girl's legs. "I…those monsters. T-They came out of nowhere and I – I didn't know what to – my brother, I had to – I screamed, but they almost—!"

The girl trembled as she spoke, near panicked, and her voice stuttered off at the end, unable to complete the sentence as she burst back into tears.

"Oh, sweetheart." Careful – since she didn't want to hurt or scare him – Kagome removed the grip the boy had on her legs to kneel in front the two and before the girl could cause her brother to panic too, brought each kid closer in a hug. "I know. You did what you were supposed to. You both did – you guys were very brave."

At the last word – the last straw – both children broke down, leaning into her embrace. Arms wrapped around her neck as they sobbed into her shoulders.

Kagome let them. She stayed there, kneeling with them in her arms, eyes closed and gripping them tight back, because no matter what – they were only kids, children that never deserved to go through the fear they did – and she waited, giving the occasional shushing sound and encouraging pat for comfort.

It took a few minutes, but she was able to calm both down enough to where they were no longer sobbing and shaking. Taking this as a good sign, Kagome pulled back enough she could face them. "There. See? No need to cry."

The girl gazed back at her, face puffy, and Kagome grinned. "I got rid of the monsters." She repeated, needing them both to understand that it was safe now. A few tears lingered in the smaller girl's eyes so Kagome used her thumb to wipe them away. Then repeated the same process with the boy. "And if more come, I'll get rid of those ones too."

The boy finally looked up to her after she said this. "Really?" he sniffed. There was such a hopeful expression on his face that Kagome almost brought him closer for another hug as he spoke. "You…promise?"

Grinning even brighter, Kagome winked him. "Yep!" she chirped, gleefully pointing a thumb at herself. Her chin lifted in exaggeration as she lifted flexed arms in jest, the sleeves of her haori flying at the action. "Leave it to me! Knight-Kagome to the rescue!"

Her antics got the laughing she wanted. Smiling again, Kagome stood back up now that they were calm. They clung to her as soon as she was upright, but she didn't mind. They were laughing and happy now – if clinging to her helped with that, she wasn't going to complain. What she did do, instead, was ruffle both children's hair.

They grinned in reply, but the grin faded to confusion on the boy's end the next second, thoughtful. "Um…wait…you're a girl. Aren't you a princess instead?"

Kagome blinked. What? Where did that come from—?

"Hey!" interjected the girl. She was on Kagome's other side, but moved to frown at her brother. "Girls can be knights too!" as she said this though, the girl's eyes also went back to Kagome, considering something. "But yeah…you don't look like a knight. You don't have any armor or anything! Or a weapon! You do look more like a princess…"

"See? That's what I meant! Like daddy's stories!" The boy cut in again, in agreement with his sister. "Knights always have armor and weapons, but you only have those flow-y clothes! Meaning you're a princess!" then, he too seemed to reconsider. "But you did fight the monsters…oh! Did you use magic? Do you have powers?!" Once the question was out, there was no calming it. They tugged on her hakama, eyes bright as they stared at her, the thought of her having 'magic' awing them into excitement.

"Come on! You have to tell us! Do you?"

"Yeah! Do you have magic powers?! You do right? That's how you got rid of the monsters!"

At first Kagome faltered at the enthusiasm, but it soon turned into laughter. She's been called many things throughout her existence, yet 'magic princess' was definitely a first. There was nothing magic or princess-y about her, and for them to think it, about her, was cute. Besides, in the end, what was the harm? If they thought her abilities magic she'll let them.

"Ah, right! You caught me!" she replied, head tilting down to wink at the kids. "I do have magic, and I guess I am one of those princesses…you know…to the rescue."

The siblings blinked at her, faces splinting into twin grins. "Right! So a fighting princess, not just a magic one!"

'Couldn't they mean the same thing?' she wondered. Not one to question the logic of children though, Kagome only chuckled, watching the two as they talked to one another on the topic of princesses and magic, and what made them fighting ones or not. It was adorable, something missed – but the miko knew she couldn't let herself get too carried away. Now that they were safe, and no more hollow were incoming, it was time to get down to business.

She had to protect these kids. They couldn't remain while so many hollow were around. She saved them this time, but they'd only end up easy targets for the next that decided it was time to eat. Plus, there was the matter of their chains of fate.

Throughout her time as a soul, Kagome noticed that there never appeared to be a set time on how long a soul could remain in the living world before turning into a hollow. Appeared to depend on the soul itself. Some could be around for a while – those who had their chains attached to something, for example – while others only had a few days, but there was a common sign she saw in every other soul that meant they were near their deadline.

The links, once they made it down to five, meant there wasn't much longer until the soul turned, and both kids' were passed that point. A few days at the earliest, a week maybe, at the longest, but then they'd be hollow. Even then, she could be wrong. What if they only had a day? Or one turned before the other? Best thing was to get them to Soul Society.

She knew this, had for years, yet the knowledge still made her sad. 'Like the others. Looks like I'm doing the same thing here…'

A while after she…died, she started helping other souls. At first, it was simply a way she could help, to do better – to not mess up – but then it turned into something just to do, and was a practice she still did in Tokyo, that now looked like was happening here, as well.

The dead-miko rubbed her neck. 'All these souls, it wouldn't hurt to direct them if I could. Especially if I'm going to be here a while.' it was better than running around useless. Perhaps it'd help with the hollow population. She could go around purifying hollow all she wanted, but as long as there was so much reiatsu and souls around, more would always come.

If there were fewer souls despite the reiatsu though…it might make them decide staying wasn't worth it. Maybe.

"Um…excuse me?"

The voice was small, unsure as it called out to her, yet caught Kagome's attention all the same. She looked down to see her two charges were staring up at her, worry in their gazes. "Yes?"

The girl was the one that spoke first, but this time her brother took over. He tilted his head, hands gripping tight onto her clothes. "A-Are you okay nee-chan?" he blinked at her, "you looked sad…"

"N-Nee-chan?" the term made her stutter, red-faced, eyes wide and heart clenching at the title. The sound of it alone brought back a wave of nostalgia. 'How long has it been since I've heard that?' she hasn't been anyone's 'nee-chan' in a while…

It was strange to hear it again, after so long.

The kids, unaware of her surprise, only nodded. The girl grabbed her hand with her smaller one, aiming a toothy grin at Kagome. "Yeah! You saved us from the monsters! And well," The girl's free hand touched the chain on her chest, embarrassed. "You have the same chain we do, and we thought, since you're the same, you could be our sister now…"

"Y-You know…if you want to be…" she trailed off, appearing unsure now that she finished talking, but her and her brother's eyes were hopeful, imploring.

"I see…" Kagome smiled back. How could she ever say no to those faces? "I don't mind." She continued, humming a small bit. "It's been a while since I've had any younger siblings."

"Really?" asked the boy. "Did your family go away too?"

Kagome froze. "W-What?"

"Your family," repeated the girl. "Did they vanish?" the grip she on Kagome's hand tightened as she looked down, eyes sad. "We don't know what happened. We both remember smelling something burning. There was smoke, and it hurt to breathe…before nothing. When we woke up again, daddy was gone."

'Oh.' Understanding filled Kagome with horrible clarity. 'A fire. They were killed in a fire.'

She wanted to feel sad, but she knew she couldn't – not right now – since both were looking up at her, waiting for a response, and she didn't want to scare them. She forced the feelings away with a shake of her head and gave them a shaky smile. "Yeah. My family…my family vanished too." she sighed. "They vanished a…a long time ago."

"We can be a family then, right?" the boy tugged again on her clothes and the smile he gave her was something she still couldn't say no to, and she nodded her agreement.

As if a switch was turned – both kids lit up. They grinned even brighter, letting go of her hands to throw their arms up. "Yeah! Nee-chan!"

Amusement allowed Kagome their celebration, her lips quirking up a bit as she watched them. She knew that they needed to move though, so after a few more moments, she patted their heads to catch the siblings' attention.

When she had it, she held out a hand for each to take and tilted her head, waiting. She didn't have to long – both were more than happy to hold her hand – and a minute later, she had two smaller hands in her own. The boy on her right, the girl on her left, and then she was leading them down the empty street and away. "Yes, we're a family now. First though, I need to get you guys someplace safe."

"Someplace safe?" echoed the younger girl.

Kagome nodded once, keeping her eyes focused on the area around them. She was careful, and those hollow were weak, but she'd rather not stay on this street any longer than she had to now that they could move. No matter how much she controlled the amount of reiatsu she released in her arrows, there was always that slim chance it could be sensed, which was all she needed to be cautious. 'Actually, what I need is to get them to Soul Society.'

Wasn't that the truth. Sadly, out of the many things her reiatsu and unique situation allowed her to do – sending souls to Soul Society wasn't one of them. Which meant she needed a shinigami to do it. A condition she always found annoying since it only caused more trouble for her in the end.

Like now. Kagome wanted to sigh, but instead steered the three of them onto a main street, amongst the living. "Yes, safe." she paused to maneuver them around a few of the living – some habits never died – before resuming her sentence. "The place we're going to is where the monsters won't be able to get you."

The two kids holding her hands tightened their grips. It was the boy this time that spoke. "No more monsters?"

The black-haired teen shook her head. "No more monsters."

"Cool!" the boy laughed, stride changing once he heard what she said. Instead of walking, he started to jump from foot to foot, as if he was jumping from one tile to another. It slowed them down, and Kagome had to move them more to the edge of the sidewalk to avoid any living now walking faster than them.

The girl soon jumped in, Kagome laughed as she was slowly taken down the street as they played. "We can be a family then! And I'm sure we'll find daddy there!" the boy swung their clasped hands together, the grin never leaving his face. "You'll like daddy! He's funny and nice, and he'll be so surprised when we tell him we have a new family member!"

As the children spoke, Kagome felt it – a crack. It was slow coming, but there, lining her heart and getting bigger at every word, yet she didn't let it show. She couldn't. There wasn't time for it, not now, when she had two souls depending on her. So she nodded instead, smiled when she needed, and listened to everything the siblings told her about their dad and all the fun stuff they would do together.

There was talk of visits to the park, the movies, a few trips to the zoo, and even what they would do when they were home, and it was the talk of this that she realized something important and stopped.

The children stopped with her, confused. "Nee-chan? Are you okay?" asked the girl.

"Yeah." how could she only notice now? "I remembered something…" she eyed them, curious. "What are your names? I never asked."

Two different sets of brown eyes blinked at her, and then turned to each other in confusion before giggling. Both pulled away to move in front of Kagome. The girl stood up straight. "That's right! We didn't tell you!" she pointed at herself, golden eyes bright. "I'm Natsuko!" she turned to her brother and pointed at him. "And he's Yasou!"

Kagome nodded and allowed the smile back on her face. "Well, it's nice to know your names, Natsuko, Yasou. I already mentioned my name, but for introduction purposes…" she bowed her head, "I'm Kagome."

Their faces brightened after she spoke. Despite hearing her name once, it was like the formal introduction was the brightest praise she could give them. "Kagome-nee!"

Her hands were grabbed again and Kagome found herself being forced to walk, this time with Yasou and Natsuko in the lead, tugging on her arms to move faster. "Let's go, let's go!" called Natsuko. "The faster we get to this safe place, the faster daddy can meet you, Kagome-nee!"

She didn't have the heart to stop them with their fun, so Kagome let the two drag her around. She made sure to speak up when it was needed – she did want them to head in the right direction after-all – and would point the way when it was time, yet for the most part, Kagome was content to follow.

In the past, all she did was provide cover for the soul without having prolong contact like she was now. She'd save the soul, send them in the right direction while following from afar, and soon, they'd 'somehow' end up running into a shinigami that would notice them and perform the Konsō.

It didn't always work and sometimes she had to find an alternative way to get them to a shinigami. Usually though, many souls were willing to listen – especially if she saved them – and the method worked for her. It was a safety measure, for both her and the soul, and one she'd been using for years.

Now though, she can't exactly do that. Not because they were kids – she's sent kids on their own before, maybe with a smaller distance between them – but because of where they were.

Too many hollow accumulated here that trying to send these kids on their own was more a death sentence than anything. There's nothing close to them right now, but there are hollow that would love to attack these kids if given a chance. With that increased risk – she'll escort them herself. This town's already mucked up many of her usual routines, might as well change this as well, to keep up.

Plus, it helped that she did have a bit of leeway, now. If she wanted to escort souls personally, for the first time, she actually could without worry of being sent to Soul Society.

And because she could – might as well. At least while she had the chance. How often could it be said she had something of her own personal shinigami?

Kagome grinned at the thought.

'Personal shinigami indeed.'

Note: and that's chapter 3! Bit more background added, some more focus on Kagome's meeting with the kids since I felt the first version wasn't quite right, as well as a bit deeper delve of Kagome's time while she was dead.

Reviews are loved, flames stared at, and advice appreciated! Until next chapter!