A/n: Anyone know how weird it is to have to write the second chapter before you write the first? Man this was a trip…

Standard disclaimers apply

Verbal Impressionism---

I. The Downstairs Perspective

They came into the house loudly, ignoring everyone else and the fact that there might possibly have been company downstairs (although that wasn't at that time and never seemed to be the case). It didn't make sense for Kagome to use the window to her bedroom instead of the front door, but Mama didn't see a problem with it. But there was the matter of the shouting match that seemed to be going on.

Mama couldn't make out the words from downstairs, only the angry tone of her daughter's voice. Kagome was most definitely worked up about something and Inuyasha's yelling wasn't helping the mood any.

"…her into this!"

Jiichan sat on the sofa with his newspaper in hand, pretending that the events upstairs weren't half as interesting as the ones going on in the rest of Japan.

"Inuyasha no BAKA!"

It was at that point that the old man turned a corner of his newspaper down to look at Mama. She was obviously as interested in the goings-on of her teenage daughter as her father-in-law, but she hid that curiosity much better.

"Perhaps you should-"

"She'll be fine," Mama said calmly, carrying on with the large yellow and blue blanket she had been knitting for several weeks. It was for Kagome to take back to her friends in the Sengoku Jidai since she had commented on the temperature that came with the changing of the seasons. It seemed that the weather wasn't much different five hundred years in the past than it was at that moment in their time.

"…stupid wench!"

"She's gonna make him kiss the floor for that," Souta commented from in front of the television where he was playing his video games.

"SIT!"

The large thud of a body smacking hard against the floor filled the silence left after Souta's premonition. The hanyou's angry growl of protest was barely heard from the three Higurashi family members listening downstairs.

"…insensitive mumblemumble…don't even…mumblemumble if you think mumble…well you're wrong! Mumblefrustratedsigh…a bath."

The bedroom door opened and shut in a manner that suggested there was nothing at all wrong with the world. That the fight that had just taken place and the hanyou that had just been subjugated upstairs had never happened. It would almost have worked.

Things resumed normally downstairs as it seemed the drama was over. Souta went back to his video game, Jiichan went back to his newspaper, and Mama carried on with her knitting, just as she had done the entire time.

The sound of the water running for Kagome's bath confirmed their assumptions. That was, until, Inuyasha came out of Kagome's room, cursing loudly to himself.

"Here they go again," Souta mumbled.

They could hear Inuyasha's fist banging on the bathroom door in such a way that indicated his overly-irritated temper. Mama could imagine the hanyou as he probably was at that moment, standing as close to the door as possible with a wide stance and a fierce scowl adorning his face. She could only assume that Kagome had an equally irritated expression to match.

"Open the door," Inuyasha commanded in a voice that was much clearer to understand without walls and ceilings to block his words. His paused statement suggested that Kagome was talking to him from inside of the bathroom, but her words were inaudible for the sound of the running water that was slowly filling up the tub.

"Don't make me come in there."

Mama smiled to herself. She didn't expect Kagome to open the door and forgive the hanyou on his commands, but it was nice to see that she was holding her own against his demands.

"Why can't we talk about this?" Inuyasha almost-whined.

The water stopping running suddenly, and Kagome's mumbles were heard, muffled and indistinguishable as anything more than an emotional statement followed by Inuyasha's indignant reply.

"That's not true, I can't see the jewel shards."

There was a pause as Kagome made a very irritated sounding reply. It was followed by an uncomfortable silence and the thud of what Mama assumed to be Inuyasha sitting on the floor. She could picture him looking sad and lonely with weary eyes and droopy ears outside the bathroom door.

"Kagome, this is stupid."

There didn't seem to be a reply from the bathroom.

"Don't say that, this is my fault. I didn't mean to ignore you all day."

"So that's what this is about," Mama said out loud.

"That careless boy should be reprimanded for taking our Kagome for granted," Jiichan said from behind his newspaper.

Mama ignored the comment as Inuyasha continued speaking upstairs.

"It's Naraku, I'm just worried about what he's plotting."

A muffled reply came from behind the bathroom door, but it was too unclear to make out.

"I'm sorry," the hanyou confessed. There was a pause, then he continued. "I didn't mean to Kaze no Kizu that demon when it was flying over your head." Another pause. "And I'm sorry that you got covered in demon guts."

Mama frowned at the fact that Inuyasha had haphazardly killed anything over her daughter's head.

"And I'm sorry that I ripped your 'tecks-book' in half last night."

It wasn't logical to think that all of Kagome's possessions were going to last through their journey, but it was discouraging to hear that Inuyasha was willingly ripping her things into pieces. Textbooks were getting more and more expensive as the days passed. It just wouldn't do to have to replace them every few weeks.

The bathroom door opened and was shortly followed by footsteps that walked down the hall and back into the bedroom. The door closed.

"You're just going to let them carry on like this?" Jiichan asked.

"They're having a fight," Mama reasoned. "They need time to make up."

"I don't know what century you grew up in, but back when I used to have fights with my wife-"

Mama held up a quieting hand. There were some things that she didn't want to hear about, and things that Souta shouldn't need to hear about. At least not until he was older.

"They'll be fine," she declared. "Kagome is a smart girl with a good head on her shoulders."

The bedroom door opened again and Inuyasha trudged down the stairs and further down the hall until he reached the living room. Mama, Jiichan, and Souta all looked up at him expectantly.

"Kagome needs another blanket," he said, looking at Mama hopefully. "I ruined the first one."

Mama looked at the fire-rat robes and clicked her tongue in distaste. He would need much more than a new blanket.

"Come with me," she said, motioning for him to follow along. Jiichan frowned in their wake.

Past the kitchen was a small laundry nook that Inuyasha had never really noticed before. There were piles of clothes and hanging shirts above two white, metal boxes that he didn't recognize. Several brightly colored bottles set on top of the boxes, emanating smells that Inuyasha identified as the smells that came from Kagome's clothes.

Mama was aware of Inuyasha smelling the detergent bottles behind her as she rifled through the closets for a set of spare clothes. Most of her late husband's things had been given away charitably, but there were some things that she had decided to hold onto just for the sake of keeping.

Turning around, she held out a grey t-shirt and a pair of jogging shorts.

"What are these for?" he asked, taking the offered items.

"If you'll change out of your robes I'll wash them for you," Mama smiled. "It'll make Kagome happy if you don't dirty her floor any more tonight."

"Oh."

A freshly dressed hanyou followed Mama back into the living room where she handed him the blanket that she had been working on. It was finished now and ready for use. Inuyasha tucked it under his arm and made his way back upstairs for the night.

"It isn't proper for that boy to-"

"Don't worry," Mama interrupted. "If there's one thing I'm not worried about it's Inuyasha. He does a good job of protecting Kagome on a daily basis. He'll do a good job of protecting her heart."

"And her honor?"

"That too, Jiichan. That too."

--- --- --- TBC --- --- ---

Next Chapter: What happened upstairs…

a/n: For those of you that have 'The Art of Inuyasha' and know the layout of Kagome's house (it's somewhere near the back, just after the animation set-up chapter), then you might have realized (or at least will in the next chapter) that this story doesn't follow those floor plans. My apologies. Some things in this world just can't follow canon storylines.

Silent readers go to fanfiction Hell. Review!