Kagome threw her scant luggage out of the taxi before getting out, then cheerfully rubbed her heels in a flower pot and kicked each bag with glee. She had realized on the way over there that they looked much too new to have been carted across Africa with her. She smiled confidently at the driver as she paid him, hoping to convey that she was totally sane despite her actions, but the effort seemed ineffectual. He eyed her wrinkled bills cautiously, as though wondering whether whatever demons possessed her duffel bags could have lingered around her money as well. But after muttering a counter-curse, he consented to take them and sped away, leaving her alone on the doorstep of her "home".

Kagome hesitated. The house loomed huge and intimidating in front of her. It was gorgeous. She eyed it cautiously and appraisingly, trying to memorize every crack and color in case something about it came up in conversation, but there wasn't enough room in her brain to store many more tidbits of information. Her head had been swimming with details for the last day and a half. The daughter's name was Maeko. Favorite color: green. Favorite cereal: Cheerios. Favorite part of school: moving her teacher's things around the room throughout the day to make the poor man think he was absent-minded. Kagome had it all down. So, after one final mental drill, the faux mother straightened her back and marched determinedly up to the ostentatiously ornate oak door, fully prepared to stand her ground. But when she rang the door bell and hastily stepped back as the door was thrown open by a silver-haired child with hesitant and questioning eyes, every fact she had carefully memorized flew out of her head. Against those eyes, Kagome was suddenly helpless.

"Mommy?" Maeko asked. "Are you... my mommy?"

Kagome had no time to panic and think critically about the ideal response to such a question. All she could think was that she had never seen such a vulnerable expression. Driven by instinct, she immediately abandoned her carefully composed greeting and unceremoniously tackled the child in front of her, with an exuberant cry of, "Baby, I missed you!"

Hm. "Baby". She would have to remember the pet name as her established term of endearment. In acting, consistency was key. And anyway, the kid seemed to like it. She was already burrowing into Kagome's arms, squealing with delight and asking rapid-fire questions.

"Why didn't you come home yesterday? I saw you at a bookstore when I was riding in Daddy's car! What were you doing? Was it more important than me?" she questioned accusingly. Kagome smiled affectionately at her and ruffled her hair, completely confident and in character again because she had already anticipated this query and rehearsed her answer.

"I was buying you a present," she confessed happily, lifting Maeko above her head and grinning up at her for good measure.

The girl frowned down at her suspiciously in response. "Why didn't you buy me one in Africa?"

"I did!" Kagome protested. "Do you know what I got you?"

"What?"

"An elephant." The animal choice was a result of her checklists. Maeko's favorite animal: elephant. Check. Her second favorite animal was the sea sponge. Go figure.

"A real one? Where is he!?" Maeko's eyes widened as she whipped her head around, excitedly searching the yard for any giant grey animals she may have missed.

"They wouldn't let me bring him on the plane. Can you believe it? He was so disappointed."

"The plane people are meanies," Maeko pouted. Kagome smiled.

"But do you know what I got you instead?" Kagome gathered Maeko into her lap and presented a small, stuffed elephant from her newly dusty bag. She had found him in the children's section of Borders and had spent all day sewing a small green collar and hat for him. Maeko clutched the stuffed animal in wonder.

"Does my real elephant have a hat like this, too?"

"The very same. That way you'll recognize him when you see him. I told him to meet me here, but I think he might get lost."

"Nuh uh, he'll find us! Daddy, can he stay in my room?" Kagome started and twisted awkwardly half around to see Inuyasha leaning against a tasteful mint-green wall and staring at her intensely. She was suddenly embarrassed. It wasn't like her to forget her audience; how could she have not noticed that he was there? …And what was that look for? Maeko noticed it, too. "Oh that's right!" she cried guiltily, "Mommy and Daddy haven't said hi to each other yet! I'm sorry for hogging her, Daddy. You must be happy, too! Go on," she insisted, detangling herself from Kagome's grasp and stepping back expectantly. Both adults briefly glanced at her and then each other in slight panic, but Kagome recovered first and quickly put on a sultry smile to cover her sudden unease. His eyes flickered briefly to her mouth in response, then back to her gaze as he, perhaps unconsciously, took a step away from her like she were an animal about to pounce. If Kagome were on a set and allowed multiple takes, she would have sighed heavily in exasperation and demanded he run the scene on his own for a bit. This was clearly no way to treat a long absent wife. As it was, she had only one shot, so she quickly closed the new gap between them, hoping Maeko hadn't noticed it in the first place.

"I've missed you, Inuyasha," she murmured, cupping his face and brushing her lips against his chastely. His arm automatically gripped her waist, but he made no other response. She swallowed nervously, put off by his reluctance. Perhaps it would be best to defer this. "You look too skinny and pale," she improvised, hoping to sound scolding and wifeish. "Have you two had dinner yet, or do I get to make it for you myself? It's obvious you haven't been eating well enough without me."

"I want lasagna!" Maeko replied excitedly, clearly distracted. "Only if you eat some vegetables, too," Kagome responded, relieved. Then she mischievously offered to race them both to the kitchen on the count of three. Maybe, she thought, the exercise would justify her suddenly flushed cheeks. More importantly: maybe the diversion would give her some time to remember how to make a freaking lasagna. What kind of cheese went in those again? As she jogged behind Maeko, pretending both to be legitimately losing and to know where exactly the kitchen was, Kagome prayed fervently that despite the lack of adult females in the residence, Inuyasha kept a good supply of cookbooks.