Take Two
Chapter 10
“Kagome?”
“Yeah, Shippou-chan?”
“Is Inuyasha my dad?”
Kagome shifted a little in the leaf-litter surrounding the base of the
Goshinboku. It was a quiet day in the forest, quiet enough that
Inuyasha had deemed it safe for Kagome to remain relatively alone while
he hunted. Assuming, of course, that she agreed to remain where
he left her.
“Have you forgotten about the Thunder Brothers, Shippou-chan?” she
asked. There was just no good way to bring up his murdered father.
“No. But you’re like my mom now, and Inuyasha was barking at the
stinky wolf-prince that you were his woman, and how wolf-boy wouldn’t
have enough body parts left to hold shards if he touched you. So
I thought…”
That had been Inuyasha’s very loud threat, though Shippou had left out
the cursing and specific torments that would be aimed at different body
parts. “Well, would you want Inuyasha for a father, Shippou-chan?”
The kitsune in her lap shrugged. “I dunno. He’s loud, most
of the time, and violent, but only sometimes. But he takes good
care of you. You’re always safe, and when you’re out of ramen, he
goes hunting. I guess he’d be a good dad.”
Kagome drew her legs up a little, curling around Shippou’s body and
resting her chin lightly on his head. “I think so, too,
Shippou-chan. I think Inuyasha would be a wonderful father.”
“So is he?” the kitsune asked after a moment.
“I think that’s up to you guys to decide. But I don’t think I’d mind a
bit.”
The kitsune shifted a little in her lap. “What’s gonna happen
when it’s over, Kagome? Are you gonna go back to your world when
Naraku’s gone?”
Kagome bit her lower lip to stop its trembling. “I don’t know
what’s gonna happen, Shippou,” she replied honestly. Things were
changing too quickly for her to have any idea what the outcome would
be. Maybe this time, Inuyasha
will live…
…And what about Houjou-kun?
What about Houjou-kun, indeed?
“Damn it, woman, stop!”
“You know my name, Inuyasha. I thought we were well past this
point.” Kagome stepped around the glowering hanyou planted in her
path.
His next words were so quiet she could barely hear them. “Don’t
go, Kagome.”
She turned to look back, ‘why?’ on the tip of her tongue, but she
reigned it back. “I have to. I made a promise. I gave
someone my word. I can’t break it without good reason.”
He turned, hitting her with the big puppy-eyes, her greatest
weakness. “Aren’t I a good reason?” His soft words were at
odds with the stalking stride he used to approach her, arms stealing
around to pull her close. “I want you here, with me.”
“I made a promise, Inuyasha. You know what that means to
me.” She wouldn’t apologize for giving her word to
Houjou-kun. He’d asked for one day of her time, knowing how
important her mission was. This time, she had vowed, he wouldn’t
be stood up or ignored.
“Hai,” he sighed, sliding the pack from her back and shouldering it
himself. “I’ll walk you to the well.”
Kagome glanced over her shoulder, seeing the bright clearing through
the trees. What did he think they’d been doing for the last ten
minutes, anyway? Still, this was better than having to sit him so
hard her own back hurt in sympathy. “Okay.”
“So what are you gonna do?” His hand slipped around hers as if
moving of its own volition, his palm warm and rough with calluses.
She threaded her fingers through his. “There’s a festival.
My friends are all going. I promised I’d be there.” The
statements were all correct, she reflected. They just added up to
something that wasn’t quite true.
“Oh.” He was waiting for her to say something, and she was fairly
sure she knew what it was.
“Inuyasha, I haven’t seen my friends in weeks, I only had time to
trade in my assignments and have dinner with my family last time.
I don’t think I was home even a full day.”
“We have to gather those shards and stop Naraku,” he interrupted.
“I KNOW that!” She took a deep breath, then continued
calmly. “I need some time with my family, Inuyasha.” They
stepped into the clearing, and Kagome cast another glance at the
well. “48 hours, Inuyasha. I’ll be ready to go back at
mid-day, two days from now.”
There was a tug on her arm, and she found herself pulled into one of
his ‘lightning-from-the-clear-blue-sky’ embraces. “I don’t want
to lose you,” he whispered roughly.
“You never will.” Reluctantly, she stepped back. “Two
days,” she reminded him, retrieving her pack.
Lightning struck again as she was back in his embrace, current sizzling
between them as he kissed her. “Two days.” He stepped back,
and she let herself fall over the edge of the well, into the light.
“Itai!”
Kagome studied her palm in the dim light of the well-house, frowning at
the speck of wood wedged under her skin. Sliding the door open,
she worried at the sliver with her teeth, trying to stay as out of
sight as possible as she crossed the Shrine grounds to the house in the
far corner. Pausing to inspect the minor wound, she frowned to
see it still embedded in her palm, and slid open the front door.
“Tadaima!”
Kicking her shoes off, she padded down the hall, enticed by the smells
drifting from the kitchen. “Hi, Mama. I’m home.”
Higurashi-kaasan quickly turned off the kitchen taps and enveloped her
wandering daughter in a hug. “Okaeri nasai. Are you hungry,
Kagome-chan?”
“A little, I guess.” She gave her mother one last squeeze, then
stepped back. “I’m gonna drop my stuff upstairs. Can you
get out the first-aid kit for me?”
Her mother immediately went into ’worried-mom overdrive.’
“Kagome, are you all right? Were you hurt on the other side?”
Disposing of her heavy pack quickly, Kagome returned to the kitchen and
offered her palm. “It’s nothing, really. I picked up a
splinter at the top of the well, and Mr. Tweazer-Claws wasn’t handy to
get it out for me.”
Mama clucked over her for a moment, brandishing hydrogen peroxide,
cotton balls and genuine steel tweezers to pluck the offending splinter
out and disinfect the tiny wound left behind. Kagome pressed her
lips closed, trying not to laugh at her mother’s serious mien as she
attended so carefully to what had to be the least serious wound Kagome
had ever picked up. But she couldn’t resist laughing a little
when her mother finished up by covering the injury with a tiny Pochacco
band-aid, smiling at the little white dog in a red shirt.
“Thanks, Mama. It feels better already.”
“I’m glad to help. I’m making a batch of gyoza for Souta’s lunch
this week. Do you want some?”
“Please. That sounds wonderful. I’m going to make a quick
phone call, then I’ll be right back.”
Mama watched her slip into the living room and pick up the phone, then
listened with half an ear as her daughter talked.
“Konnichwa, Makenna-san. Higurashi desu. Is Houjou-kun
home? …Yes, please, if I’m not interrupting anything…
Arigatou…” There was a moment’s silence, then Kagome spoke again,
more animated this time. “Hey, it’s me… Yeah, it worked out
pretty well… Day after tomorrow, so there’s no problem…
Ummm, I think so. Hang on a minute.” Her head popped out
around the edge of the door, and Mama looked back studiously at the
task her fingers knew by heart.
“Mama, is it okay if I go out with some friends tonight for
dinner? We’ll probably just go to Wackdonald’s and do some window
shopping.”
Mama smiled to herself knowing how hard it was for Kagome to maintain a
normal social life with her peculiar responsibilities. “Go ahead,
dear. But don’t stay out too late.”
“Hai, Mama. Thank you.” Kagome disappeared behind the door
again, and Mama could hear her making plans to meet Houjou Koinu in an
hour. There was some hushed whispering at the end of the
conversation, probably exchanged endearments, then Kagome quickly rang
off.
“Did I tell you you’re the best?” Kagome asked, and Mama found herself
hugged quite firmly from behind. What had that girl been up to
that made her so strong?
“Do you still want gyoza, or will you wait to eat with your friends?”
she asked, wrapping more filling in thin dough shells.
“Both. I’m going to get cleaned up, then I’ll have a few to take
the edge off. No one makes gyoza like you do.” Kagome
skipped out of the room as she filled another shell. She heard
Kagome start the tub filling before bounding upstairs, doubtlessly
searching for clean clothing suitable to eat hamburgers in.
Houjou Kagome, she reflected,
filling yet another gyoza. It certainly didn’t sound bad at all.
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Chapter 9
Chapter 11
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