Chapter One

Or

Chemistry of a Car Crash

"Kagome, where are you off to?"

Kagome Higurashi swirled on her foot, nearly missing Souta's head while she carried a mop over her shoulder. "You remember what day it is, right?" She said in disbelief, looking at her watch.

Miss Higurashi gave a smile. "But with the mop, dear?"

A series of mumbled curses and a dropped mop later and she finally had a moment to herself in the shack. Souta hadn't followed her like he usually did when he ignored their mother's warnings and Kagome's exasperated pleas. That was something but she missed his constant questions and concerns now in the silence that lingered. She was just picking up her bag to jump in when a thought occurred.

Why should she even keep going?

How can you even ask yourself that question? He has a right to know.

He never came back. Not once.

She looked different; shouldn't he see it? She felt different; shouldn't he be there to feel it too? Everything was all so wrong because they'd told her he wouldn't be coming back to see her again. Kagome placed her knee on the lip of the well, but she went no further. "Sis?" Souta Higurashi stood just outside the doorway, the light from the sun bathing him in a glow. She couldn't believe how old he was now. Just shy of starting high school himself. She wondered how her own mother could cope with two of her children growing up before completely giving in to the realization.

Kagome wondered if she, too, would feel this way about her child.

"It's okay, Souta," she sniffed.

"You're crying, Kagome," he pointed out, worried.

"I said it's alright," Kagome said, firmly, and shooed him off. He was right; another tear slid down her face. She didn't even feel them. Souta threw her one last look of concern but left her alone. So, she would go. She was going.

Sango didn't know how much longer she could take this waiting. It was obvious by the way Miroku and Shippo paced around the well that he felt the same way. Checking her watch, a gift from Kagome, something was different. "What if she doesn't want to come? What if she changed her mind? I'm not good with change, Sango!" She rolled her eyes.

"You're not good with anything, leech," she growled. Shippo laughed. In her heart, Sango did agree with him on this one. Kagome was never late a day in her life. Not especially with the recent things going on. She smiled to herself. A girl like Kagome was to be admired for her bravery, no matter the mistakes she's made.

"Ouch. Where is she?" Miroku complained again.

"Relax. The stork probably left the baby at her house instead of here," Shippo said matter-of-factly.

To which Miroku stared at him.

"The stork," Sango reminded him, "the one Kagome told him about."

"Yeah! He brings the baby in a blanket—sometimes a basket, if you can afford it—and you get to name the baby and everything. Kagome said the baby only comes on two conditions: if you love someone and if you have been a very good person." Shippo glowed with pride from his newly acquired information. So proud, in fact, that Miroku couldn't take it upon himself to dampen his spirits, so he nodded.

"I guess I haven't been as good a person as Kagome, then," Miroku grumbled, scratching his chin. Sango shook her head and crossed her arms.

"You have no idea."

Enter: Kagome.

She had been there for merely a minute, hiding at the bottom of the well while Shippo echoed her very words from eight months ago when she decided to tell him. That was the very same day where…

"Hi, gang," she greeted with a wave.

"Kagome!" They cheered in unison, Shippo jumping into her arms and Sango wrapping hers around the girl's neck. Miroku held back all of two seconds before he, too, embraced his friend. She felt so much love in that moment that it caused more tears to come to her amber eyes.

"Oh, Kagome, please don't cry," Sango sniffled. She turned into Miroku's arms as her own eyes began to fill. Shippo looked from one girl, to the other, and crinkled his tiny nose.

"Where's the baby? I thought you said I'd get to see him the next time you came!"

Miroku chose that time to laugh. Kagome bent down and ruffled his red hair. "He's coming, Shippo. Not just yet, though. Sango told me you were making something for him, though. Wanna show me?" She straightened up at his smile. Shippo was easy to talk to; easy to please. A great kid, and Kagome was beginning to feel more like his mother than an older sister to him. She thought she liked it very much.

"I forgot!" Shippo took her hand, being old enough now to reach. Just about the size Souta was when he was Shippo's age, Kagome reflected before letting herself be led away from the well.

"When do you think she'll ask about him, Miroku?" Sango asked as they followed the two, watching them laugh and talk about things going on in their lives. Her stomach was doing flips just thinking of the inevitable. Miroku kissed her wrist lovingly.

"I think she's been asking herself this whole time," he replied grimly. He didn't like the question any more than he liked to hide their love from Shippo and Kagome but both seemed to be impossible to prolong. "Only, we don't have answers for her. Not this time."

"I'm glad she missed him," Sango growled, her cheeks hot with anger. "It would have broken her heart."

Shippo's ears perked up at the conversation going on behind them. He had one ear to Kagome's chattering about her home schooling and one to the words Sango had spoken. His tiny shoulders slumped. "What's wrong, Shippo?"

"Nothing. I miss you lots of times, Kagome. I wish you could stay here," he sighed sadly. It was true enough; he missed his best friend. Life wasn't the same if they weren't going off on adventures together. With Naraku defeated and Sesshomaru subsided, nothing challenged them anymore and nothing excited the fox. He actually had to make friends his own age now.

Kagome stopped them. She knelt down. "Shippo, why did you tell me you were okay with this arrangement before if you weren't?" Her voice was soft—mother-like. She made sure to look him in the eyes, no matter how much he tried to avoid hers.

At first, no answer. Then, "they said you'd be back soon. But you didn't come back for months. Then, you came back and you looked different. You look different now. Your belly is huge and you always seem…"

"What?"

"You seem sad," he inhaled a big breath, and dropped his gaze back to the ground.

So, I haven't been fooling anybody, Kagome thought. But more importantly, I hurt my little guy's feelings. I have to make it right!

Impulsively, when Sango and Miroku reached them, she turned and announced something so very life altering and joyous at the same time. "I'm not leaving ever again."

Unfortunately, that was when Inuyasha descended from the tree above them with one leap. He straightened up and glared at them with naked danger in his red eyes.