Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing!

Summary: A family is all that one has. Keeping that family together even during the toughest of storms is sometimes harder that it appears.

Pairing: Genos/Kagome

Kazoku

Chapter Three:

Saitama whined pitifully as Kagome offered him a steaming cup of tea. She tried her best to keep a smile off her face, but seeing her guardian in this state made her want to laugh.

"Do you know what he said to me?" The bald man exclaimed to his student. Genos listened with rapt attention. "Never heard of you." Saitama threw his arms up in the air, "I've been fighting monsters for three years! You'd think I'd have a fan club by now but no one knows who I am!"

The blond tapped his chin, "Teacher, have you by chance registered for the Hero Association?" The man shook his head. What was the Hero Association in the first place?

Genos quickly ushered Kagome and Saitama to the computer where he pulled up the website. On it listed the current rankings of their members and how to join. The dark-haired girl whistled. So that's what that meant. She pointed a long index finger at a line at the bottom.

All unregistered heroes will be treated as perverts.

Saitama's face deadpanned then he dropped his forehead onto the computer. Of course, so that's why no one knew who he was. He never even knew such a thing existed!

Dark eyes widened as he quickly turned to his disciple, "Wait does this mean you're registered as a Hero Genos?!" The thought that his pupil might have done something that he hadn't caused the man to feel anxious.

The cyborg shook his head, "No, I never felt the need to."

Kagome smiled, "Then why don't you try out?" She pointed to the next application date, "They're doing exams tomorrow if you want to give it a try."

Saitama immediately turned to Genos, "Take them with me and I'll officially make you my disciple!" The girl nearly slapped her forehead at the comment. Genos wasn't used to her aniki's antics, but she was. This was nothing more than an empty promise in order to bribe the young man into going with him. Despite all of his strength, Saitama did have two weaknesses. The first being food. The second, and more important, being his desire to not partake in something by himself. He was a bit odd that way, but Kagome didn't blame him. In fact she didn't have any room to criticize anyone anyways. She had her own bucket of issues to deal with.

"Yes sir!" The blond predictably agreed. As the events of the day wound down a bit, Genos took the time to inquire about something that peaked his interest. "Teacher," He started. His eyes watched as the bald man sipped at his tea but raised his brows at him—it was the silent signal for him to continue. "What happened between you and this Kikyou person?" Saitama's face turned stone cold.

"You met her didn't you?" For some reason it sounded more like a statement rather than a question. The cyborg nodded and encouraged his sensei to continue. "All you need to know is that she's evil as sin." The man's face darkened, "Word of advice, if you run into that wicked witch of the west again, get out quick. She will torment you in ways that you don't even want to know existed." Golden eyes widened. Kagome laughed in her hand as she observed their companion swiftly pull out a notebook and write down her aniki's recommendation, word for word.

It was then that a familiar ping! went off in her pocket. The dark-haired girl's face immediately soured. She knew that tone from anywhere. Saitama's body posture swiftly changed from laid back to fully attentive—he had heard the message's arrival as well. Blue eyes glared at the name lighting up on her device. What in the world could he want at this hour? Instead of opening the text, she chose to silence the device and put it away. Saitama relaxed somewhat but his eyes followed her every movement. It'd be a cold day in hell before he let his ward get hurt again.

The cyborg took note of the subtle interaction between the two. He said nothing to them directly but his golden eyes kept glance back and forth between them. The only sounds that could be heard were that of Kagome's phone vibrating and Genos' pen scribbling across his journal.

"Should I answer it?" Saitama questioned as the phone continued to vibrate. It buzzed incessantly, creating a nice massage on the teen's leg. She shrugged at her brother-figure.

"I don't think it's worth it. I'm probably just going to shut it off for the rest of the night." The young woman silenced the device again, only for it to start vibrating once more. Her expression dropped. What the hell had gotten into the bastard? It wasn't like him to try to call her so much. Feeling the itch to pick it up just to scream at the person on the other end of the line, Kagome decided that it'd be best if she were separated from the communication device.

The dark-haired girl casually tossed it into Saitama's awaiting hands.

"You deal with it." She growled, stomping into the bathroom.

Genos watched her go, his brows arched curiously as his pencil continued to fly across the page. He'd ask questions later, for now he'd observe closely. The teen then turned to look at his teacher. How was he going to deal with this situation? It was obvious that Kagome didn't want to speak to the person who was desperately trying to call her. It was also apparent that his sensei didn't much care for that person either. Perhaps this would be a good time to gage his mentor's capabilities? The blond continued to observe silently.

Saitama's countenance steeled into one of impassivity, though there was a small glint in his eyes that tipped Genos off to the rage that welled beneath. The older man answered the call. At first he was silent, listening as a male on the other end rambled off.

I'm so sorry. Let's talk. I screwed up.

The bald man was quite convinced that the invasive caller had no clue he was on the line with yet. So he remained quiet.

You were right about Hotaru.

A brow twitched. Well no duh. His ward wasn't a dunce. She knew a sleazy girl when she saw one. Unfortunately the other person wasn't that smart.

Can't it just be like old times? I miss you. Will you meet me tomorrow? How's seven?

That was when Saitama decided to make his presence known.

"Hello again." Came the nonchalant reply. To the naked eye all was fine but the cyborg to feel the pressure of his teacher's rage beginning to swell. It was like a massive cloud had settled in the room and it was rather settling. He continued to note his observations.

Sounds of shocked sputtering and profuse apologies could be heard. If Genos didn't know any better, he'd say the guy on the other line was groveling.

"Ah yes, about that," The bald man's face turned serious, "You contact her again and I'll pay you a visit. Am I understood?" There was more groveling before Saitama's face lightened up. "Good now that you know I'll leave you to do your thing. We're in the middle of dinner so if you don't mind, I'd rather get back to that. Good night Inuyasha." The phone call was abruptly ended. Genos quickly wrote down the name that had been mentioned. It was such a strange one. He'd have to be on the look out for that person. It was clear the male had, at one point, had some sort of relationship to Kagome. Though the details of what happened between them were still unknown. Perhaps he could get some information from his teacher?

He decided to try his luck.

"Is he a problem?" Genos inquired as he shut his journal. Saitama rubbed his temples.

"You could say that," The older man leaned back on one arm and flipped open one of his manga. "More like typical teenage male."

The cyborg didn't like the sound of that. Though he wasn't sure if it was because he felt like he was being included in that particular statement, or the insinuation of the action the other male might've taken in regards to Kagome. She was much too kind to be disrespected by hormone-driven men.

Saitama took a moment to glance over at his disciple. The boy seemed so straight laced but just in case he decided to go ahead and lay down the first ground rule.

"She's off limits." He looked Genos straight in the eyes, "If you want to continue to be my disciple, you will leave her be." For a moment, he thought that perhaps he was being too overprotective. However just one look at the spamgasm of text messages on his ward's phone reminded him of his failures.

"I had no intention of such a thing." Came the teen's reply. There was little emotion there but Saitama could tell that something changed within the teen. He chose not to think on it.

"Good." The bald man stated simply, "Then we won't have a problem." He turned away from the young man and flipped open his manga. The last thing he needed was his charge to get into a relationship with his self-proclaimed student. That relationship would not end well and he wasn't too keen on picking up after the fallout.

The rest of the night was spent in an awkward silence. A feeling of unease came over Genos. Who was this Inuyasha character and what exactly did he do to Kagome? Though he wasn't interested in her in the way that his teacher was implying, she was still an important person to him now. He wasn't about to let someone hurt her, especially one, as his sensei hinted, who didn't respect her. The cyborg returned to look over his notes. Now what could he do to fish for more clues? There was much he still needed to learn. Her powers in particular were a point of interest to him. Perhaps he should spend a bit more time with her and ask her to a light sparring match? Though Genos wasn't sure how she'd take to that request. Maybe he should just ask her instead?

The girl in question reemerged from the bathroom. Her hair was loosely wrapped by a towel and she was dressed only in a tight fitting tank-top and grey sweat pants. The cyborg stood and gathered his items. It was getting late. Noticing that their guest was about to leave, Kagome entered the living room and gave him a brief hug goodbye.

"I'll see you tomorrow Genos-kun." She smiled at him. His eyes did not miss the slight pinch in her expression. "Good luck on the exams!" He returned her hug before departing from the cramped home. Inuyasha huh? He'd need to ask his sensei more about him. Details on the stranger's appearance would be a good start. If he were to take his position as Saitama's disciple seriously, then he'd need to be willing to defend the man's ward against all threats. Teenage males included.

Saitama stared blankly as Genos left. His eyes didn't miss the way the boy's gaze lingered on Kagome's form a bit too long. He wasn't sure, but he thought he caught the kid checking her out a few minutes ago as she came out of the bathroom. He felt his jaw twitch. Damn it, it was already starting again. The only thing that comforted the irritated male was the fact that the girl's phone had remained silent since the final phone call. At least that was one less problem he had to deal with at the moment.

The dark-haired teen sat next to her guardian. She was quiet but her eyes were downcast. The bald man fought the urge to sigh. Of course, it'd only been a couple of weeks since that monstrous blow out of a break-up. Kagome had handled herself as well as she could during the time but having the boy suddenly throw himself back into her life after everything that happened was a bit jarring. Saitama felt the beginnings of a headache. Why did teens attract so much drama?

Seeing the way she curled into herself, Saitama opened his arms for her. She took the offer and cuddled into his side. Kagome closed her eyes and relaxed into her guardian. For the last three years he'd been her rock and hard place. Her own family had disappeared since the last attack on Z-city and he was all she had left. Inuyasha calling her had brought up unpleasant memories. The hurtful words and accusations he had thrown her way about her lost family were the first that came to mind. She never knew that someone could ever be so cruel. Now, after everything was over and done with, he wanted to come crawling back to her. Cobalt eyes hardened. No way. She wasn't a fool. The bastard had only realized that he made a terrible mistake in running to the arms of the local whore. The fact that he was calling her most likely meant that he realized that she was doing to him what he had done to her so callously.

Her aniki has been against the relationship from the beginning. She had tried to heed his warning about the boy but Kagome was too blinded to see the signs. Now here she was, cuddling up into said brother-figure's side and trying her hardest not to cry. Damn, when did she get so weak? It wasn't like her to let some guy mess with her emotions like that. The whole reason she went into the bath earlier was to keep Genos from seeing her like this. That was the last thing she wanted him to bear witness to. It was already frustrating enough dealing with the emotions.

"Feel like playing a game?" Saitama offered, sensing the onslaught of unshed tears. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was the sight of her crying. This would only have been the third time he'd seen it. The last time was when Inuyasha had 'broken-up' with her. Though it was more like he tore her apart, broke her down and completely split her heart before throwing it back at her. The guy was a complete shit.

She laughed through the pain, "Yeah, why not. I always end up owning you anyways."

The bald man flashed her an arrogant smile, "Yeah right. Then what do you call our scores on Manlio Kart?"

"Hey no cheating! We're going to play something of my choosing!" She poked his chest with her index finger. Her aniki was way too good at that one game. There was no way she was going to let him pick one that he was unfairly awesome at. Instead she grabbed the first one that grabbed her attention.

"I'll start us off on this!" Blue eyes lit up as his expression dropped. Of course she'd choose the one he was the worst at.

Kagome settled herself under Saitama's arm comfortably as she played the first round of an online fighting game. Even if they weren't related by blood, Saitama was the closest thing to family she had left. He was more than just a brother to her—he was her best friend. The two spent the night laughing and crying out in frustration as they battled against each other in a game of wits. By the end of it all Kagome had thoroughly whipped her guardian into shape and he was left grumbling about 'unfair advantages'. The teen laughed again, Inuyasha completely gone from her thoughts. Now if only her life could be like this all the time.

A/n: Hey guys, thanks so much for all of your support! Now I'm going to say that I'm going to do some shameless plugging here and advocate Beautiful Phantom's story Ordinary. She was the one who originally inspired me to get into One Punch Man and write a Genos/Kagome. Fun fact, Simplicity, Ordinary and now Kazoku originally started from her giving me a request to do a Genos/Kagome or Sonic/Kagome. As I went through the series I couldn't really picture myself writing a Sonic/Kagome and instead became very interested in Genos/Kagome. The both of us tossed around some ideas and thus Ordinary and Simplicity were born. She started Ordinary first but Simplicity got published first as the chapters were shorter and much easier to write. Kazoku was born from the ideas left over that I wanted to use in Simplicity but didn't quite fit. So this fic is going to have elements that are similar (like over the top humor in some parts with the BAOP Squad) but the main plot will vary greatly other than the basic points in OPM. So go give her story some love and let her know how much you like her works! She's the whole reason I'm writing this today! ;P