Chapter One:

One Family

o0o

"Cho, no! Come back!" The rambunctious child ignored the call of her caretaker and fluttered her way out the door, twirling and dancing.

Kagome frantically scrambled to catch the child, but stopped and sighed relief as the girl was scooped up by the young man entering the door.

"Well, hello you! Looks like you were trying to make an escape." He grinned at the toddler he held to his right side and tickled her beneath her chin as she squealed and giggled. He laughed and set her down, tweaking one of her tiny pigtails before watching her scurry off to play with the other children in the room.

Kagome smiled at him, and started in his direction, calling over her shoulder, "Yukio! Someone's here to see you!"

The little boy glanced up sharply at his name, before jumping to his feet and looking to the doorway in hope. His eyes grew wide and he immediately abandoned his block tower to race for the tall young man waiting for him, white teeth straight and shining.

"MIROKU!" He yelled it repeatedly in joy until he reached his destination. Miroku laughed, kneeling down with his arms open. Yukio ran into him with the force of a small locomotive and Miroku fell backward with the impact.

He laughed loudly, lying flat on his back, with the small boy seated and bouncing happily on his stomach. "Yukio! Missed me, did you?" He let out a grunt at a particularly large bounce as the breath was knocked from him. He lifted the boy slightly, wheezing, and Kagome stood by laughing, an infant cradled on her hip.

Another young woman made her entrance from the back room. "What's all the yelling? Is anything …wrong…Oh, it's you."

"Sango!" Miroku let forth a dazzling smile from his spot on the floor.

She leaned against the frame of the doorway she was standing in and shook her head at him. She greeted him in a resigned voice. "Hello, Miroku."

He set the boy on his feet on the floor next to him, and bounced promptly to his feet. He leaned over the welcome desk that separated him and the young woman. He propped his elbows on the high desk counter, his chin resting on his fists and a dreamy look on his face. "Have you considered my offer, Sango dearest?"

She rolled her eyes and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. "The last time I agreed to go out with you, Miroku, it lasted all of five minutes before you hit on the waitress, and I splashed my glass of water in your face before leaving you in the restaurant. Needless to say, I'm a little leery of repeating the experience, and you should be too."

"Sango, I swear to you, it will never happen again. I didn't even realize I was flirting! That was just my natural charming personality! However, now that I know how offensive it is to you, I will try and keep my charm to a minimum, out of respect for your wishes."

She narrowed her eyes at him in a mixture of disgust and incredulity.

He caught the look and smiled gently. "I can see it will take you more time to reconsider. I'll let you think over it a bit longer."

He looked down with faint surprise at his leg, never realizing that during this verbal exchange the little boy had climbed onto his foot and sat there, clinging tightly to Miroku's right leg. "Ready to go, Yukio?"

The boy gave him a wide smile, showing him his own amazingly white teeth. "Yep! Can we have pizza when we get home? It's Friday!"

"You know, you're right! Pizza it is. And a movie, how about that?"

"Do I get to pick?"

Miroku chuckled. "You bet."

"Yay! Let's go!"

He made his way slowly to the door, the child still clinging to his leg, and he waved over his shoulder. "Bye Kagome, Sweet Sango! Give me a call this weekend, ok?"

Sango rolled her eyes and Kagome laughed and waved. "Sure thing, Miroku. Bye!"

She readjusted the baby girl in her arms, turning back to her coworker and friend. "Oh, Sango, just give him another chance! He's so sweet, and he is responsible, has a great job, a great personality, and obviously cares about you a lot!"

Sango groaned. "I know, I know…it's just…he's so…feely."

Kagome cocked an eyebrow.

"I mean…he is so open with his emotions, and I'm…not. And he can't keep his hands to himself, he's perverted, flirtatious, affectionate and warm and caring and kind and…" She trailed off with a sigh and a shake of her head, long dark brown ponytail swinging from side to side. "I don't know. I've never been in a serious relationship, and I'm afraid that if I start one with Miroku, it will be serious, and I don't know how to handle that."

"It's an adventure, Sango. A great adventure. I think you should give him a shot. Just think about it. The risk may be great, but the rewards could be better."

Sango nodded and looked at her friend sadly. "You know…if I'm to take your advice, you should too." Kagome winced, and she immediately regretted her comment. "I'm sorry, Kagome, it's just…you need to start moving on. You were meant to be a mother…meant to be in a family. Meant to have…this." She gestured to the surrounding children before looking past Kagome's shoulder and yelling, "No, Montaro, put him down!" She took off to the small cluster of children whose parents had yet to arrive to retrieve them.

Kagome smiled down at the quiet child in her arms, and squeezed her gently. "Why can't they all be as easy to care for as you, Kohana?" She nuzzled the infant affectionately, who smiled quietly and patiently back at her.

She turned back to see Sango being pulled down and over-run by the Triplets of Terror, Ichiro, Kenjiro, and Renzo. With a sigh she started her way over to assist. "We better go help, Kohana, or I'll lose the only employee I have left."

o0o

She checked the door handle to be sure it was properly locked, before turning and heading toward her car. Sango left an hour ago while Kagome stayed to finish up on some of the paperwork and bills.

Running a daycare was challenging, but it was Kagome's pride and joy. She started the business with her mother a few years ago when they couldn't find a sitter for her little brother. Her mother had to quit her job to watch him, and she and Kagome decided that the best thing to do was start a daycare of their own. It was an immediate success, and they always had a healthy list of children to watch.

She sighed and traced the painted words on the door. "One Family." She and her mother hadn't had the heart to turn any parents away who desperately needed someone to care for their children. It was ok, because they always had plenty of employees to take care of them. It was their own special family business, and each employee and staff member became a new member of their family, each child in their care a new little brother or sister, a new daughter or son. They were one big family.

When her mother and brother passed away a year before in a car accident the daycare was the only thing that held Kagome together. The family she had there helped her maintain her sanity. They picked her up and carried her through the difficult times as she learned to run the business herself.

Over the years, though, the others had moved on, making families of their own. She and Sango were the only ones left, and Kagome knew she could always count on Sango to be a sister and best friend.

It was difficult still because even she knew that Sango would move on…create a family one day. Kagome, however, felt she would always be alone. That was the way things were meant to be. That car crash had taken away everything from her, her family and her chance at a future.

The car that hit her mother and brother was being driven by her fiancé, Hojo. They all died on the scene of the accident, and Kagome was devastated, knowing that Fate was telling her something.. Freak accidents like that just didn't happen. What were the odds? Too slim to even consider. 'You were meant to be alone,' it seemed to tell her

After a year, though, Kagome knew that wasn't true. She figured that perhaps she was meant to be a sister or mother to the children she took care of. This feeling was the only thing that kept her going every day…knowing that those people needed her.

She shook her head sadly and headed toward her old, beat-up lemon of a car. Climbing in, she turned the key in the ignition.

Silence.

"No…no, no." She tried again. Still nothing. "No, please start! I need you to start!"

She must have spent the next ten minutes in the empty parking lot, pleading with her car to start, but finally slumped back in her seat in defeat.

Grumbling to herself, she climbed out, slammed the door, and started her walk home. "It's only 8 blocks. In the dark…" The sky rumbled above her. "And stormy."

She gathered her thin jacket around her and made her way across the lot to the sidewalk, her grubby white tennis shoes crunching over the gravel.

As she made her way through the darkened streets, she kept her eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of her, hunching her shoulders to the cold breeze that made its way through the tall buildings around her. Her little business was positioned in a convenient place just inside the city, so that parents could drop off their children on their way to work, and pick them up on their way out to the little suburbs and to their homes.

Kagome, however, lived in a tiny apartment further into the city, having to sell her house after her mother and brother died. She and Hojo had planned on living in the city when they were married so that he would be close to the large hospital he was working at. Now it was the only place she had left and it was small, but it was hers.

However, she was regretting her decision to live there at the moment considering the fact that to get to it, she had to walk through a few very poorly lit streets. But once she was past those, she would make it to the largest building in the city, Taisho Corp's headquarters of operation. The company was the largest one in Tokyo and it was surrounded by beautiful street lights and lit fountains.

No one was exactly sure what went on there, as no one was sure what all types of business Taisho Corp. was involved in. While it was one of the leading companies in software, Kagome, along with everyone else, suspected it of being involved in much more.

Their engineers and scientists were kept under strict watch, however, and all their research was kept confidential. Even the owner of the company was a mystery, as no one really knew what Sesshoumaru Taisho looked like except his closest working employees.

Kagome could see the large structure a few blocks away, and hurried toward its brightness and safety. She crossed a street and walked briskly past another alleyway when she heard a muffled shout. Turning her head, suddenly, she caught a glimpse of two figures struggling in the parking lot to her left. One looked as though he was about to get in his car when he was accosted by the other. Kagome caught the faint gleam of a weak street light reflecting off a strip of metal. 'A gun…' Her breath caught in her chest as she watched, wondering whether or not she should cry for help.

The figure with the gun finally gained control of the situation, and clapped the smaller one over the head with the weapon, sufficiently knocking him out. He hastened to grab the man's briefcase, and bent to open it on the hood of the car.

The man on the ground, however, wasn't quite as unconscious as the attacker must have thought, for he thrust his leg out suddenly, kicking the briefcase away. It flew through the air and landed with a thud directly at Kagome's feet.

A gunshot rang out simultaneously with the thud of the case's arrival on the ground in front of Kagome. She looked from it, to the attacker that was now approaching her and did the only thing she could do.

She grabbed the briefcase and ran.

o0o

Children's names:

Cho: "Butterfly"

Yukio: "Gets What He Wants"

Montaro: "Big Boy"

Kohana: "Little Flower"

Ichiro: "First Son"

Kenjiro: "Second Son who sees with insight"

Renzo: "Third Link" or "Third Son"

A/N:

HA! So, let's see how well I keep up three fics at once. Two on-goings, and one collection of oneshots.

I think I can do it. . I hope.

Anyhow, there's the first chapter! Please review, so I know whether or not it's worth continuing? Advice? Comments? Encouragement? Thank you!