Sōta was sitting on an eight year old Kagome's lap as she held the book of animals in front of him, covering the picture on the right page with one hand as she pointed to the word beneath it with her other hand. "What's this word, otōto-kun?"

"Um..."

A slightly chubby finger ran over the word, pausing at each letter. She had begun teaching him how to read six months ago, even though her mama had told her he was too young – she had to keep up his education somehow, and he practically already knew all the words she did, even if he couldn't say them all because he was still just a toddler. So she'd bought picture books, then books with pictures and simple words, digging out her own books from when she was in preschool as well to help. "Goat!"

The picture was covered up – and she was going through the book in a random order so that he couldn't use his knowledge of the book itself to guess the words without actually reading – so she clapped her hands and hugged her little brother close. "Good job, Sōta! Okay, let's see, what's next… More animals, or shapes and colours?"

He stuck his fingers into his mouth and sucked on them for a second before Kagome absently pulled them out and looked through the books beside her, "No, Sōta. You know better. If you need to chew or suck on something that's what the pacifier and teething ring are for."

Mama wasn't any help in that department, as she didn't always know where everything was kept and sometimes just wanted him to be quiet enough that she actively undid all the hard work Kagome was going through in breaking her baby brother of his bad habits. Kagome would be more upset, but… It was hard raising two children mostly by yourself. Grandpa could only help out so much after all. So she just dealt with it and picked up the slack.

Kagome had no real idea how mature she was for an eight and a half year old, instead just wanting to make sure she did everything in a satisfactory manner, still determined to make sure that Sesshōmaru-sama found nothing to complain about with how she was raising Sōta, although admittedly, unlike the time until just over halfway into her first year, this year it was more out of a true love for her baby brother than out of fear of being a bad girl. It didn't matter to her that she was different than the other girls her age, it didn't matter that she knew all sorts of things none of them would probably ever know, that she watched documentaries instead of anime, that she read nature books and educational books rather than manga. It didn't matter that instead of playing tennis or volleyball, she practised archery and how to wield a staff – Grandpa was teaching her how to use a shakujō at her request so that when she was older she could teach Sōta how to wield one. Grandpa would be too old to do it in even just a few more years, after all, although he said that if Mama could afford it, he would ask a friend from another temple to come by and keep up her teaching.

Kagome frankly was not holding out much hope for that. Mama spent any money that didn't have to go towards keeping Kagome and Sōta fed and clothed and clean on alcohol and clubs. She only worked for a few hours each night, and pulled a check from Daddy's time in the military, so she didn't even have to do that, but at least she had the ability to feel bad about spending someone else's money on drinking. Kagome pulled her mind away from that and closed her eyes. Don't think like that, Kagome. Mama is trying. It's just hard on her.

"Colours, 'Gome!"

Sōta brought her out of her thoughts and she smiled, nodding and grabbing the book of shapes and colours. Then she turned to a random page and covered the picture up before he could catch it, and pointed to the word below it. This one was purple. "Um.. P...Pur… Purple!"

Sōta clearly guessed after the "pur" part, but that wasn't a big issue, he was still recognising it without seeing the colour itself.

Sighing, she smiled and then gasped. "Oh! Today's that day again! Sōta, I have to call Sesshōmaru-sama. He has to make sure you are okay."

Sōta tilted his head and blinked slowly. "Sess-sama? With silver hair?"

She nodded, "Exactly! He's watching over you and making sure that you grow up to be strong and smart and healthy."

Her little brother nodded and thankfully didn't ask why exactly this was happening. Her hands began to glow and she softly chanted, "I wish the Goblin King would come visit as soon as possible!"

"Hello, Kagome. Hello Sōta. How are you doing today?"

Kagome smiled brightly at the daiyōkai and aid, "Very good, Sesshōmaru-sama! I was just having a reading lesson with Sōta."

He raised an eyebrow at that and looked at the books, with a small quirk of his lips. "Very nice. Well, Sōta, can you walk here?"

Her little brother nodded and said, "Okay Sess-sama!"

Then he toddled his way over to the daiyōkai, who bent down and looked him over carefully, before combing his fingers through Sōta's hair again. Sōta giggled at the feel of the yōki examining him, before asking, "Sess-sama! Why you watch over Sōta and 'Gome?"

Oh, no! He would ask that now! Thankfully, Sesshōmaru gave her a wry smile and simply stated, "Because your big sister loves you very, very much, and I wanted her to be able to help you grow up happy. Is that happening, Sōta?"

Sōta nodded his head fervently and stated firmly, "Sōta loves 'Gome! 'Gome makes Sōta very happy and smart!"

Kagome smiled softly at that pronunciation of happiness and hugged her little brother once Sesshōmaru-sama was done examining him. "Very good. Keep doing a wonderful job, little Kagome. I will see you in a year."

With that he was gone, and Kagome sighed, relieved that she was still doing things right. She didn't know what she would ever do if she had to live without her baby brother.

A/N: PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO A WORK IN PROGRESS! I'm currently working on a new Sess/Kag called Sketch. The basis of it is interactions through drawings. However, I am only familiar with the manga plotline and I know there is far more fodder in the anime for interesting things for Kagome to draw. However, I can't watch the anime - it's too stressful for me to do so because of how Kagome gets treated by Inuyasha - and so I would like to make a request! If anybody interested in helping would think of scenes they would like to see drawn out from the anime (or the manga, but I think many of the things from the manga will be drawn out) and tell me approximately when in the basic Naraku interaction plotline those things happen, I would be more than glad to seek out the material I need in order to learn about and accurately depict those scenes. I think I can make a fairly decent fic even without including the anime plotline, but I would like to branch out and I think the fic will be BETTER with those other things added in. So! There is my request; a HUGE thank you to anybody who sends me requests and things!