Disclaimer: No I do not own Inuyasha. That awesome privilage belongs to Romiko Takahashi. Thank you!

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In The Box

By: Sombra112

Chapter 1: Pandora's Box

Kagome took in a large breath and blew out as hard as she could. A large cloud of dust shot off the old, wooden box in her hands and into the air.

It was that time of year again.

Time to clean one of Gramps's storage sheds.

He had three and every year the family would clean one out. Washing, getting out cobwebs, and dusting. Lots and lots of dusting.

They only did this once a year because Gramps considered it a personal insult when they began cleaning. So they always had to do it very sneakily. It was Souta who had drawn the short straw of being the DD. Designated Distraction.

He took Gramps to the Tokyo Museum, something every one tried to avoid at all costs. Gramps was a sweet old guy, and with age comes wisdom, it was just Gramps seemed to like giving out way more wisdom than anyone wanted or needed. He would walk through the museum spending 10 to 15 minutes explaining each piece he saw. No doubt Souta was bored out of his mind.

And while he was doing that, Kagome and her mom were in charge of cleaning duty.

The three storage sheds on the property were larger than Kagome's bedroom and each one older than the last. This time they were cleaning the oldest of the batch. Kagome had been sick with tonsilitis the last time they had done this shed. Her mother had visited her in the hospital saying that she was sorry but Kagome was the DD. She was to keep Gramps there at the hospital with her until the cleaning was finished.

So Kagome had been subjected to Gramps wheezing about 'when I was your age...' stories while her voice was wrecked and her stomach moaning in misery from lack of food in preparation for the surgery.

When he got home to discover the cleaning they had done he had sworn not to get tricked again. Like he did every year.

And like every year, they managed to trick him.

This was the first time cleaning this building in 9 years for Kagome. As the oldest store house, it held the oldest and, to Gramps mostly, most treasured of the Higurashi shrine's ancient valubles. Kagome called it junk. Old junk, she admitted. But junk nonetheless.

Kagome wiped the dust that was too stubborn to let go of it's three year hold off the box and looked at the ancient seal placed on it.

"Mom!"

"Yeah!" her mother's sweet and happy voice called back. Kagome loved listening to her mom talk. When she was little she had often asked for stories from her mother, not for the tale itself, but just to listen to the soothing voice her mom had. She was a beautiful singer and could have been famous but wanted nothing more than to tend to her house and her children. So that was what she did.

"What's in this old box?" Kagome yelled back, turning the wooden box that had been tied shut with rope that looked as old as the box itself. It looked like it had been a perfect square once but time had smoothed and rounded out the edges.

Her mother laughed and her head appeared in the doorway. "You have to be much more spacific than that when in your grandfather's shed, dear."

Kagome also loved to look at her mother. She had a sort of...classic beauty. Simple and yet...there was just some thing about her. Her hair was shiney black and cropped short at her ears. The pictures of her when she was younger showed long, flowing hair. Kind of like Kagome's but straighter. She said she cut it off after Kagome was born. Kids were easier to deal with when one had short hair that couldn't be pulled or get gum stuck into or get thrown up on or any other equally nasty things children can't help but do. Her brown eyes had a certain sparkle to them and a kindness that even the most hard hearted could't help but feel safe in.

Kagome, who was told often how pretty she was, knew her looks were different. Her looks were more vibrant than her mothers. Her eyes sparkled more and she just couldn't achieve that thoughtless grace her mom had.

"This one." Kagome held it out to her. It wasn't a large box. It couldn't have been bigger than Kagome's torse, length or width wise. And it was only about a foot deep.

"Hmm....I'm not sure." Her mother said walking into the dimness of the room and taking it from her. "It hardly weighs anything." she said holding it easily with one hand. She shook it gently by her ear but it didn't make a sound.

"It's probably a....sacred...cat from the....fuedal era or something." Kagome said knowing her grandfather.

Her mother laughed. "Most likely, dear. However don't throw it away. Remember the last time we threw some thing your grandfather said was precious away."

Kagome laughed at the memory. "He buried himself in the garbage to look for it." Kagome said. It had been a tiny vase, broken and cracked and without a lid, and Kagome and her mom decided that it was a dust collector they didn't need so away it went. Gramps had gone crazy when he found out. Looked through the trash like his life depended on it he did. Finally found the little vase that was no bigger than his withered hands and nearly cried with relief.

Kagome laughed and took the damp rag from her pocket to wipe away the thin layer of grime and held out her hand to take it back.

"Be careful of the seal, dear." her mother said giving it to her. "I know you believe it's superstition and I guess I do too, but dad swears up and down that a seal isn't placed on some thing for no good reason. Better leave it undamaged and save him a heart attack."

Kagome laughed and wiped, careful to keep the rag away from the thin piece of old rice paper. Then she wiped down the piece of shelf it had sat on before carefully replacing it in it's spot.

The next item was an urn, sealed and made of old clay, that she knew held the ashes of one of her ancestors.

"Hello great..." she paused to read the name engraved on the side, "....grandpa. Nothing special going on, just a quick shower." She blew the top layer of dust off him then whiped him down. She wiped his spot on the shelf, replaced him, then dunked her rag in the warm water in a bucket beside her.

It was a process a little too familiar to her. Wipe, wipe, replace, dunk, repeat.

It's not that Kagome didn't have a certain degree of respect for her past, she did. She lived on a shrine, it was hard notto have respect for the past. She just wasn't as obsessed with it as Gramps. She saw no reason to keep an old broken vase that had no value and no purpose that was all.

She finished the shelf she was working on the stepped outside to get the step-stool to start on the next shelf up.

While she was dusting the inside, her mother was outside, airing out rugs and replacing the water bucket and stacking the objects that had been piled on the floor so they could clean it. The door was wide open to let some fresh air in and move the stale air out. Still Kagome would cough because of the dust she kept disturbing.

"Kagome, dear."

She turned to see her mother had walked back in and was standing next to a large chest at the very back of the shed. "Can you help me move this. It's so heavy."

"Sure." Kagome hopped off her stool and put her rag in her back pocket. She took a second to dust off her jean shorts, her oldest pait with paint stains, and her gray sweatshirt, also with paint stains and a few grease and other kitchen stains, before walking to the other side of the chest.

"What's in this thing?" Kagome asked looking it over. It came up to her mid-thigh and was older than the box she had held before. The wood was dull and slightly rotten. There was not one, but three sealing scrolls on it. One on the front and one on each side. It also had been tied shut with rope but it had also been locked with a very old lock that probably didn't have a key anymore.

"I don't know." her mother wiped her sweaty brow and looked at it. "Dad seems to know though. He always comes in this shed once a week to check this thing. Make sure the seals are in place, that the wood isn't too rotted. He seems determined to keep it shut."

Kagome laughed and bent down with her mother. "Ready and...ugh!"

"Ugh!" Kagome repeated as the weight of the chest fell on her arms. "What the...heck is...in here?" she groaned as they hobbled to the door.

"Who knows?" her mother asked as they turned to the side so they could fit through the door.

They made it outside and Kagome began kicking up dirt from dragging her feet. "This thing weighs a ton!" she complained as they dropped it next to the other boxes and chests and other acient things her mother had stacked.

Kagome fell on her butt as her mother laughed.

"I hate cleaning day." she said tilting her head back to take in the sunshine that she had missed being in the shed so long.

"We better hurry." her mother said checking her watch. "I don't know how long Souta can keep daddy distracted."

Kagome laughed. "Please, mom. They're at a museum. We'll be lucky to see them at closing time."

"And this, Souta, is a sword from the beginning of the Meiji Era." Gramps said looking at the katana in the glass case.

"Really?" Souta asked wondering how Gramps managed to make revolution and bloodshed sound more dull than kitchen duty.

"This katana here was owned by the Hitokiri Battosai." Gramps continued still gazing at the shimmering blade. "He was an assassin who slaughtered thousands of..."

Souta sighed quietly and tried not to fall asleep where he stood.

Kagome stretched after replacing the last item on the shelves. "And done!" she said happily looking at the nice, ordered, no longer dusty and grimy, shelves.

Gramps would be so pissed when he got home.

"Nice job Kagome." her mother walked in holdinga box in her arms. They had begun replacing the old boxes.

"Thanks. Need help with that chest again?"

"If you wouldn't mind." Her mother sat the box she held down. She looked outside at the dark sky then at her watch. "It's past closing time. Dad and Souta should be..."

"What's this?!"

Kagome and her mother both laughed at the outraged old voice.

"What have you two done?!"

"Easy, Gramps. You know what time of year it is." Souta said finally getting the pleasure of saying 'gotcha', the only good thing about being the DD.

The girls walked out to see Gramps on his knees looking at the stuff stacked outside, dust free and disturbed from their normal positions. Unlike the rest of the family, Gramps prefered wearing a traditional Japanese priest guard. Gray and white, bland and old. That's how Kagome described it. His beard was gray, his hair was gray, and his skin was wrinkled, a normal old person one could say.

Souta, her ten year old brother, shared the black hair of the rest of the family. He liked soccer, his girlfriend Hitomi, and his PS3. He was wearing jeans and and orange t-shirt with a thick green stripe in the middle.

"Come on, Kagome." Her mom said walking over to the chest. There was no point in keeping it from him now because he wanted it moved back anyway.

Gramps stood up and covered the chest with his body in a move that was surprisingly agile for such an old man.

"Be careful with this!" He said. Niether girl stopped from bending over and picking up the chest. It was heavier now but Gramps was an old man and didn't weigh much so he just hung off the chest while glaring at them. "Don't you dare break this chest. This is Pandora's Box!"

"Pandora's Box?" Kagome laughed as Souta ran over and helped lift it from the back. "What do you mean?"

Gramps turned his glare to her. "Even you should know what Pandora's Box is, Kagome." His glare faded as his eyes closed and he got that I'm-going-to-tell-a-long-drawn-out-yet-historically-important-story look. "In Greek mythology, Pandora was entrusted from Zeus with a box. In this box was all the evils of the world. Pandora, in her curiosity, opened the box and let evil out into the world. This is that box!"

"Hear that, Souta?" Kagome said looking at her brother while they squeezed through the door. "We've been keeping all the evils of the world in our backyard shed."

Souta laughed with her making Gramps glare again. "Laugh if you wish but it took the power of four different gods to put the evil back and it cost them their lives."

"Sure, Gramps." Souta and Kagome said at the same time as they set the chest, and Gramps, down.

"It did!" He said, sitting up to check to make sure the chest was still sealed. "The god of courage and fire, the god of wisdom and air, the god of strength and earth, and the god of healing and water. Together, with all their power combined, they managed to...HEY! Where are you three going?!"

Mom, Kagome, and Souta, too used to Gramps's stories, had already left the shed to begin putting the other things in.

He grumbled at them and began inspecting the chest.

"NO!" he cried out.

"Dad!"

"Gramps!

"Gramps, what's wrong!?" His family ran back in at his cry.

"The seal!" he pointed at the front seal which was hanging limply from the chest with only the bottom still attached. "I must fix this at once!"

Kagome and Souta rolled their eyes and returned to their chore as their mom laughed silently.

Gramps took some seals from the inside of his white robe and held them between his fingers. He prayed as he put his spiritual power into them then slapped all three on the front of the chest. Then he moved the older once back up, carefully as it might fall apart, and put another sutra on it to hold it on.

"There. That should hold it." He stood up and puffed his chest out importantly.

"Mom, can we have chicken for dinner?" Souta asked smiling at her.

"Sure, dear." she nodded as Gramps's shoulders slumped. "You and Kagome finish this and I'll get started. Coming, dad?"

"Yeah, yeah." He crossed his arms and followed them mumbling something about his actions being unappreciated.

"Mushin! Mushin!" Miroku sighed impatiently as he shook his guardian.

"Jun tik I poon dien..." the old drunk slurred.

Miroku groaned and lifted the half passed out man off the couch. "When will you learn to speak a language when your drunk?" He asked moving the old man through the empty house.

Mushin, thought overweight, could still be lifted and toted around by his young ward. Which was good because Mushin loved to drink. Miroku didn't blame him. He had watched Miroku's father die before his eyes and had needed some way to cope. He took in Miroku, took care of him, raised him, and every other night got shit faced drunk. Miroku was used to it.

"Parley-vous français?"

"It's Parlez-vous français." Miroku corrected.

"Oui, monsieur!" Mushin cried happily.

Miroku sighed deeply as he pushed the door open at Mushin's room.

Miroku loved Mushin dearly. He was the only parent Miroku had known since he was 6. He never met his mother and his father had died in a gas station robbery. After watching his best friend die, and seeing Miroku was now an orphan, he had taken him in. He was the one who had been there for Miroku through all the hard steps to reach manhood, or at least 17, safely. Sure he was an alcoholic but Miroku knew he needed something to keep his sanity and he had never failed Miroku when he needed him.

He laid the old man on his bed and covered him up as best he could. Mushin mumbled something but Miroku couldn't understand and his eyes were closing as he was falling asleep.

Miroku shook his head and looked outside.

The sky was full of large, ugly purple storm clouds.

"Going to be a big one." Miroku said closing the blinds so the light wouldn't blind the old man when he woke up.

Sango laughed as she rolled the ball of yarn around.

Her pretty cat Kirara chased it, trying her hardest to snag the trailing end of the ball. Kirara had a nice, thick, beige coat with a ring of black around her tail and paws and tipping her ears. She was Sango's dearest love in life.

"Sango! Are you doing your homework!?" Her father asked yelling at her from the base of the stairs.

"Yes!" Sango yelled back.

She grabbed Kirara and began tickling her belly making Kirara grab at her hands with her claws still retracted so as not to hurt her master.

Sango laughed and picked up her cat. Kirara had been with Sango for as long as she cared to remember. She brought her close to her chest and pet her making her purr.

Sango's bright brown eyes danced as she looked at the thing she loved most next to her family. Her long brown hair was still wet from her shower and in the background she could hear the rush of water telling her that her younger brother was taking his.

A loud clash of thunder echoed and drew Sango's eyes to her window.

"There's a storm coming Kirara."

Kirara meowed and nuzzled Sango's hand as if telling her that she had stopped petting her and she had not given her permission to do so.

Sango laughed and resumed.

"Ooh. Nice one!" Inutaisho said as thunder shook the glass in their windows.

"A typhoon?" Sesshomaru asked looking out the window.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Who cares?"

Izayoi, his mother, looked up from her romance book. "We better close the storm doors."

"All right, dear." Inutaisho kissed her head. "You heard her boys. Get to work!"

Inuyasha grumbled but got up from the couch.

Sesshomaru looked out the window for a second more before closing the storm guard so if the glass broke in the storm it wouldn't shatter inside.

Inuyasha closed the one over the door as a flash of lightning illuminated the edges.

It was going to be big! He smirked. Inuyasha loved storms.

"Doors and window guards are closed." Kagome said walking back in the living room.

"Thank you, dear." her mother said changing the TV channel from the weather to the soccer game Souta had so wanted to watch.

"In my day..."

"Thank you, daddy." she cut him off. "We know all about it though."

He made a sound like, "Humph!" and crossed his arms stubbornly.

Kagome sat down next to her mom as the sound of rain hitting the roof began.

Deep in the oldest storage shed of the Higurashi shrine a very old, very worn, sealing scroll fell off an older chest.

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