Chapter 3: Relapse

Waiting for all eyes to be on her face rather than her body she whispered, "Hello~," with clear merriment laced in her voice.

Their hands almost instantaneously reached for their sword-like machine contraption. She idly wondered whether they could speak her language, it seemed that they couldn't, she has, after all, standing there for more than a few minutes waiting patiently for their response. But she figured that she'd wait and see what would come of this meeting.

After a short few moments, however, although she thought it rather entertaining watching them stiffen, fumble and think of how to deal with the situation at hand...She was getting quite antsy-though she'd never let it show. The slight smirk she once had on her face was gone and was replaced with an impassive expression. She had a long list of things that must be done, and they all required time. The most important of them all being that she had still yet to form any sort of contact with Sesshōmaru, nor had she even started to figure out why she was sent here. But before everything else, she needs to gain their trust. That was the foundation of everything, that was the primary goal.

Sighing, she pondered at how she was to get them to trust her before a moment of shocking realization ripped through her body.

Her aura had been constantly seeping out of her this whole time...and she screamed all manner of self-deprecating words and phrases in the privacy of her mind. And courtesy of years of training and practice in Sesshoumaru's Yokai Court and Council, her stoic face revealed nothing of her current mental self-criticism.

But she could feel her heart-rate skyrocketing, her throat constricting, and her stomach turning. Her mind was rapidly firing questions after questions after questions, but a single thought-a notion-a suspicion was brought forth above all else, 'Have I relapsed?'.

The mere act of speculating whether or not she had, caused another wave of nausea to rush through her. By now, her chest was betraying the calm composure she worked so hard to achieve and control, but she hoped that the humans were too far to notice the difference.

Painfully, she forced herself to reign in her emotions and inwardly promised herself that she'd deal with the damage that she'd dealt with herself when she was alone. And not even a second later, she pulled at every single bit, inch, and area of the land as far as she could reach in order to call back her leaked and still leaking Aura. She felt her control walls mending and building bit by bit until all was repaired, and her life's energy was contained back into her body leaving a resounding pulse that echoed in the chests of all in the vicinity. Its thrumming sensation pounded and reverberated within their rib-cages leaving them breathless. And despite her brief moment of incompetence, she discovered from her aura that everything, every place, even the air that surrounded her was completely saturated with the presence of those foul beasts that she destroyed.

Her slight trance was broken as her peripheral caught sight of movement over to her left from the group. She consciously let her eyes roam across them before finally stopping to focus on the tall, blonde man with unusually thick, and darkly coloured eyebrows who came forward towards her before coughing and speaking in...She couldn't help but feel as though she had heard of the language in the past. She felt it terribly frustrating when the name continued to elude her memory. She remembered that the language was used when she visited Europe with Sesshoumaru. It was on the tip of her tongue...Dutch? Danish? Swedish? Germany? German?

Her brows twitched in the slightest of sense, as she recalled herself speaking in Japanese when she first greeted them, but it seems that they didn't understand her at all. She briefly wondered whether or not she could still speak in their preferred tongue-German, but brushed the thought away. Sesshoumaru himself taught her the language, so there was no use worrying whether or not she could or could not. It was almost a given that she'd at least be proficient at it.

"Verzeih mir, aber bitte wiederhole, was du gerade gesagt hast," Kagome uttered.
(Forgive me, but please repeat what you just said.)

"Diese Titanen, wie haben Sie sie getötet?" The man with overgrown eyebrows slowly asked, as if he himself wasn't completely certain of his question.
(Those titans, how did you kill them?)

Her eyes narrowed just an inch. She thought it a little rude for him to not even share his name with her, but then again, she doubted that they'd seen anything quite like her before, so she let the matter go out of understanding.

"Ich bin sicher,' Kagome unflinchingly looked directly at the man's eyes, 'dass Sie neugierig sind, aber zuerst...wie heißen Sie?"
(I'm sure, you're curious, but first...What are you called?)

It seemed to Kagome almost as if the man was taken aback by her reply. It seemed that he wasn't one that was ever dismissed in that way before. She thought 'He better start getting used it'.

Quirking a brow up at the man, she was about to repeat the question once more before hearing a rough cough followed by, "Ich heiße Erwin Smith. Der Kommandant der Gruppe hinter mir. Und jetzt muss ich dich fragen, bist du Freund oder Feind?"
(I am called Erwin Smith. The commander of the group behind me. And now I must ask you, are you friend or foe?)

Allowing herself a small, nearly unnoticeable sigh, she answered,"Je nachdem, was Sie als nächstes sagen, wird meine Antwort bestimmt.'
(Depending on what you say next will determine my response.)

She could feel his aura and a few others in the group behind him darkening and spouting of sparks of static irritation and slight animosity. Though she did ponder over their reaction for a moment before realizing that she really couldn't care less. Should they move threateningly towards her for even an inch, she knew that they'd never be able to harm her, much less lay a single hand on her. They'd be lying in a pool of their own blood before they ever knew what happened. She was confident in her ability to kill, her ability to keep her weakness against thoughtless killing under lock and key. Dissociation now came as easily as breathing. She found herself to be more productive that way.

"Ich möchte, dass wir miteinander einverstanden sind."
(I'd like us to be in agreement with each other.)

Kagome was skeptical. Instead of taking to heart his words, she focused on his aura, and his aura spoke to her volumes of his true intentions. The waves of dark green were barely contained under the seemingly 'good-intentioned' facade he wore. A dark orange was weaving itself through the green, while a deeper shade of turquoise hid behind both colours. It was like reading an open book. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the man. He knew nothing of what was to come. Though she did take note that there was more to this man than what the outer layers of his aura told her, she hardly had the time to delve deeper.

"Einverstanden. Aber vorher noch etwas ... Sprichst du noch andere Sprachen?"
(Agreed. But before anything else...Do speak any other languages?)

The man Kagome now knows as Erwin Smith seemed a little put off-kilter as she asked him her question. She understood that it was quite nonsensical of her to ask as such, but talking in German truly was taxing for her. Regardless of his answer, she prepared herself for disappointment.

"Jeder kann Englisch, aber nur der König und das Militär sprechen Deutsch."
(Everyone is able to speak English, but only the Royalty and the Military can speak German.)

It was as if a weight lifted off Kagome. English was a much easier language to speak. She was, however, just a hint disappointed that Japanese wasn't one of their learned tongues.

Hearing a cough from Erwin, she finally collected her thoughts and spoke, "I'd very much appreciate it if we were to speak in English. Now, you mentioned something about an agreement. What is it that you'd like for us to agree upon?"

In the back on Kagome's mind, she felt the faint tremor on the earth and a sense of foreboding. Kagome's mind buzzed. They were coming.

Erwin nodded once before his face was wiped clear of any other emotion other than hate, resentment, and determination, "We'd like you to willingly come with us to The Wall, and allow us to freely utilize you and your power to kill the Titans; humanity's enemy."

Succinct. Straight to the point. 'We'll get along just fine'. But he wanted her power, like so many others, have before. Sure, it was certainly understandable, but considering how that path never ended up well for any of them...She inwardly prayed for Erwin's bleak future.

"Come Erwin," Kagome stepped past him and started her way towards the other humans, ignoring how they stiffened and gripped their weapons, "Introduce me to your subordinates."


A/N: Damn...I know I said that I would update in the 'next three days' last chapter but...Uh, I was hospitalized and I just couldn't find it in me to write stories for a while. But as my trips to the hospital lessened, I feel as if I'm able to find the energy to write again. Now, I terribly sorry for making it seem like I've abandoned this, but fear not, I don't abandon my works ever.

I'm not really satisfied with this chapter so I'll definitely be going back and editing this once again soon. I just thought I should upload since it has been a long time.

EDITED: 4 MAY 2019

Before I edited this chapter, oh gods...I hated it so much. I couldn't understand why on earth I allowed myself to upload such a disaster of a chapter! The pacing was rushed, her personality turned to shits, everyone was wayyyyy more OOC than I expected. Damn, I honestly have no clue what the actual frick happened to the past 'me' who thought it was a good idea to prioritise length over quality. Rest assured, I've remedied and fixed everything up. Though this chapter has definitely been shaved down significantly, gods I hope that people who read this chapter pre-edit didn't actually think I write that horribly! I'm so ashamed, this chapter pre-edit read like a draft!

And forgive the horrid German translations. I am not a native speaker of the language, nor can I understand a single German word. I'm embarrassed to say that Google translate, as notorious as it is, helped-or should I say butcher the language entirely. I mean no offence to anyone who actually can speak German. In fact, I'm all for constructive criticism. Correct me as much as you want, I wouldn't even know whether you were right or wrong.

Aura

Dark Green: Indicates ambition. Signifies greed and selfish desire.

Dark Orange: Indicates overconfidence and over-ambition. It is the colour of the opportunist, taking selfish advantage of every situation.

Deep Turquoise: Indicates secrecy, unreliability, deception and off-handedness.