By: Patche

Disclaimer: Do not own Inuyasha… only this story.

Mayu's First Day
--

It was Mayu's first day of school. She woke up smiling and hopped out of bed as soon as she could without taking a glance at her clock. She waddled over to her closet and opened the doors, digging for the perfect outfit. She had seen it in all the cartoons. The kid's get up, open their closet, pick out one of their uniforms and then get ready to roll out the door.

She smiled to herself as she found the hanger holding the exact outfit and pulled it out of the closet.

--

Kagome awoke to the sound of cluttering around in the kitchen. She lazily opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings from the couch, and then spotted Mayu climbing up to the top of a dining chair, reaching for the highest cabinet in the kitchen.

Kagome leapt up from the couch and rushed over to stop the girl from falling.

"Mayu!" She gasped as the chair began to tilt and Mayu was about to land face-first into floor tile. Kagome slid through the kitchen and caught Mayu just as the chair fell.

"Whew…" Mayu breathed out, wiping imaginary sweat from her forehead. "That was a close one, Kagome!" She said smiling.

Kagome released the girl, frowning. "Mayu, what were you doing?"

Mayu shrugged. "I wanted to make you and daddy some pancakes. The pancake box is up in the top cabinet and I'm too short to grab it. So, I used the chair." Mayu said smiling.

'Thank goodness I got to her before she tried to light the stove…' Kagome thought to herself. This child was bent on suicide.

"Well, I'll get the box down for you. Do you know how to make pancakes?" Kagome questioned, still a little groggy from her odd awakening.

Mayu nodded. "Of course I do! They're my favorite food to eat!" Kagome nodded waiting for the girl to continue. "First, you get the box down, then you pour milk into the box… then you shake up the box and pour it all out onto the stove. Then you light the stove and wait until the fire burns the pancakes and then their done!"

'Reeeaaally good thing that she didn't get the box down…' Kagome thought smiling weakly at the girl.

"Well, I happen to be an expert pancake maker… and you're pretty close to making the perfect pancakes, Mayu. So, I'll tell you what… why don't you let me help you make the pancakes? Then we'll surprise your daddy and you'll know all my perfect pancake making secrets!" Kagome offered smiling at Mayu.

The young girl tilted her head to the side and scratched her chin as she pondered Kagome's offer.

"Won't you be upset that your secret pancakes will be stolen?" Mayu asked Kagome.

Kagome simply smiled and shook her head. "Well, I'm trusting you to keep them a secret. I'm willing to share my secret with you."

Mayu's eyes widened. "Why would you do something like that if it's a secret?"

Kagome knelt down beside the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Because you're my friend, Mayu."

Mayu grinned a toothy grin and nodded. "Well, let's do it, Kagome!"

Kagome reached up to grab the pancake box. "Now first, instead of just pouring the milk in the box, I get out a big bowl and pour some of the stuff in the box into the bowl…" Mayu nodded. "Will you get me the milk?"

Mayu reached behind her and opened the fridge to get out the milk jug.

"Now, I pour a little milk in the bowl and mix it up with a spoon."

Mayu nodded. "Hey, Kagome?" Mayu asked as Kagome stirred. "You want to know a secret of mine since you told me yours?"

"What's that?" Kagome asked curiously.

"I saw my daddy playing with his pee pee once!" Mayu said giggling.

Kagome laughed weakly along with Mayu. "Thanks for sharing that…" She said closing her eyes in horror.

Mayu beamed. "Well, you're my friend, Kagome!"

--

Inuyasha yawned, stepping out of the shower. He reached for the nearest towel and wrapped it around his bottom half, leaving his chiseled torso exposed as he walked from the bathroom to the master bedroom. He groaned replacing the towel with a pair of red boxers, then pulling jeans up over them.

He heard laughter coming from the kitchen then lazily turned around to look at his clock. 'Jesus, they're already up?' He mentally asked himself. How could he survive in a household where the two women liked to wake up before the crack of dawn?

Pulling a white T shirt over his chest and a belt around his hips, he let his long mane out of the low ponytail it was in and headed for the kitchen.

"What's all this?" He asked seeing Kagome and Mayu holding a plate full of pancakes.

"Mayu made you breakfast." Kagome gave him a weak smile.

Mayu popped out from behind Kagome. "Kagome gave me her very secret recipe to make the perfect pancakes!"

Inuyasha smiled and scanned is daughter over.

Her black hair was down and tangled beneath a tiara clearly constructed of pure plastic. She had a blue ball gown fit for a toddler on over her body and was wearing silver slippers that were at least two sizes too big for her.

"Mayu… what are you wearing?" Inuyasha deadpanned.

"I'm a princess, daddy! I have to go to school like this!" Mayu argued.

"Mayu, you have to wear the uniform the school gave us. You'll get into big trouble if you don't wear it. Go get changed." Inuyasha ordered, gesturing to her bedroom.

"Daddy, I don't wanna!" Mayu shouted, stomping her foot as her eyes began to water.

Kagome quickly intervened noticing the impatient look on Inuyasha's face.

"Mayu, sweetie… you can wear the princess gown outside of school. The school just needs you to wear the uniform so the regular students won't know who the princesses and princes are."

"Why?" Mayu sniffled, looking up at Kagome.

"You don't want the other kids to be afraid of you, do you? They'd be scared if they knew a princess went to school with them. That's why the school wants you to wear the uniform. It's a disguise." Kagome said, trying to explain the situation in five-year-old logistics.

Mayu nodded and wiped her eyes. "Oh…okay…" She said dejectedly as she walked off to her room, nearly tripping over her silver slippers on the way.

Inuyasha sighed and ran a clawed hand through his hair before looking up at Kagome.

"I guess I lack a little sensitivity in those areas…" He murmured taking a pancake off the stack and placing them on a plate for Mayu.

He sat on the sidewalk during his recess as the other kids all paired up and played together. Most of the girls went to the jungle gym or played hopscotch on the sidewalk while the boys went out and played tag in the field.

He usually did the same thing every day. He'd sit on the sidewalk and watch his classmates have fun for an hour before his class went back inside to learn.

Today was slightly different, however. A girl approached him and smiled down at him.

"Hi!" She said to him. Inuyasha was taken aback before looking up at her. She had long black hair and light brown eyes and was showing off her missing front teeth with her smile.

"Why are you wearing your Halloween costume?" She asked him.

"It's not a costume…" He muttered quietly as he turned away from her.

"Whatever. Do you want to play hopscotch with me?" She asked.

"I don't know how…" He said softly. The girl smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Here, I'll show you." She said dragging him off to the section of the sidewalk with a hopscotch board painted to the concrete. "First, you throw a rock into one of the squares, then you hope across on one foot to that square." She said demonstrating. "Now, you throw your rock to a square and hop to it."

Inuyasha did as he was told and landed in the square behind the girl.

"Okay. Now, I'm going to throw my rock again and then hop there and you'll throw yours again and hop too. The first person to the ten wins." She said throwing her rock and hoping to the next square. "I'm Kasumi Sato, by the way."

Inuyasha tossed his rock and began to hop.

"What's your name?" The girl asked.

"Inuya-" Inuyasha started but lost his balance and fell, knocking the girl down with him.

Kasumi's face and right arm skidded against the concrete, leaving less-than-severe scraped on her arm and cheek. Kasumi looked down and caught sight of the blood on her arm and started to cry and scream. Teachers surrounding the area rushed to the scene and pulled Inuyasha off of the girl shouting at him.

"Get off of her, you monster!" He heard one of them shout.

"I can't believe he'd attack her like that…" Another said.

"I can. He's a half demon. What did you expect?" Another asked.

Inuyasha watched in horror as the teachers carted the girl away. He felt some one picking him up from the arm pits.

"Looks like you're going to the principal's office, Taisho…" The voice behind him muttered.

"It's okay. You weren't ever a five year old girl." Kagome smiled, placing the pancakes on the table. "Are you okay?" She asked noticing Inuyasha was staring off into space.

"I'm just worried…" He said quietly.

"About what?" Kagome questioned, sitting down across from him.

"I just don't want her to stand out. But I know her so well. It's all she's going to strive to do. She's like her mom…" Inuyasha sighed.

"How so?" Kagome inquired.

"Kikyou was the kind of person that didn't care what anybody thought of her. I know that's how everyone claims they are, but this chick meant it." Kagome nodded. "We'd go out in public and she'd just be herself. Booze, no booze… whether Mayu was present or not she was always the same. People would look at us and just think we were the oddest couple because we stood out so much. Her for her slightly obnoxious personality and me for my… obnoxious looks and angry outbursts…"

Kagome nodded again. "Like the other night at the concert…?" She asked.

Inuyasha waved his hand. "That wasn't anger. I was just trying to protect your dignity." He mumbled, taking a pancake off the stack and putting it on his plate, drowning it in syrup.

"Inuyasha," Kagome giggled. "I'm an angel. I don't need my dignity to be protected. It's kind of indestructible."

"Yeah, but didn't you mention to Sango that you were concerned because you're becoming more and more human?" Inuyasha asked, his mouth full of pancake and syrup.

Kagome gasped. "Oh no. You heard that conversation?"

Inuyasha nodded, still chewing the whole pancake he shoved in his mouth while grabbing another. "Yeah. It really pissed me off. I mean, what does she know anyway?"

Kagome blushed. "You heard the bit about…" She trailed off.

"Yeah and for the record, I don't give a shit about Kikyou… at all!" Inuyasha said, though to Kagome it sounded as if he was saying it to himself more than her.

She just nodded and took a bite of her pancake as Mayu walked into the kitchen sporting a blue plaid skirt and a white oxford with a matching blue sash around the neck.

"Aww you look adorable, dear!" Kagome shouted looking Mayu over.

"Really?" Mayu's face lightened and she twirled around modeling the outfit for Kagome and her father. Inuyasha just huffed.

"Don't go flailing around like that, Mayu. I don't want all those boys after you just yet."

Mayu stopped twirling and stomped her foot angrily. "Daddy! Yuck! Boys are gross!"

Inuyasha smiled and turned back to his pancakes. "Damn right they are."

--

"She did a lot better than I expected…" Kagome noted as she and Inuyasha left the Higurashi Elementary School. Mayu had just run off and began playing with one of her classmates. Meanwhile, every other child was glued to their parents' legs begging to not be left in such a place.

Inuyasha grunted in response, keeping his eyes low to the ground.

"Are you okay, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, peering around at him.

"I'm fine! Do you have to ask me that question every time I don't respond to one of your bazillion asinine comments correctly?" He snapped turning around to face her.

Kagome furrowed her brow. "No! I'm just concerned because you constantly mope and sulk when something that could be upsetting happens!"

Inuyasha huffed. "Ugh, fine… yes… I'm fine. So sorry for yelling at you, Kagome… If only I'd seen it your way." Inuyasha seethed sarcastically.

Kagome tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She decided starting an argument over nothing would be ridiculous. So, they walked in silence until they turned the corner.

"It's weird for me, too to see her grow up so much." Kagome commented. "I know that you're her father and I couldn't possibly understand how you feel. But it is kind of sad for me." She kept her eyes on the ground, expecting one of Inuyasha's blow ups. It was a big day for him and he had a habit of acting completely catatonic when provoked on such days. Inuyasha merely sighed.

"Look, I'm not in the mood for a heart-to-heart right now, okay? I have to go to work. Do you know the way to the apartment?" Inuyasha asked, turning around to face her.

Kagome looked around and nodded. "Yeah. Worst comes to worst, I know the way to Sango's."

Inuyasha laughed. "She'd probably rip your head off!"

Kagome smiled weakly. "Yeah… she probably would…"

"Alright, I'll be home later!" Inuyasha shouted, running down the street in the opposite direction.

Kagome nodded and waved pitifully looking up at the street signs. "Yeah, I totally lied again…" She said. "I don't recognize anything." She turned and walked down the street she hoped would lead her to Sango's.

--

By some miracle, Kagome managed to arrive at the Tanaka household without taking a single turn. She knocked on the door feeling quite accomplished. No one came to the door, however she could hear noises coming from inside. It sounded like a woman groaning in pain. Kagome knocked again.

"Sango?" She called.

"Oh my GOD! Somebody help me!"

Without a single thought, Kagome tore the door open and rushed inside to find Sango laying on the couch hyperventilating.

"Sango!" She rushed to the girl's side. "What's wrong?"

Sango shook her head frantically. "I… I don't know… I guess the baby's coming… but… it's too… early… and… Miroku's… at work… and I can't… get to the… phone!" She gasped. "I don't know… Kagome… I need you… to take me… to the hospital…"

Kagome nodded calmly. "Okay. Let me just call Miroku…" Sango grabbed her hand and squeezed every blood cell out of it.

"NO! TAKE. ME. TO. THE. HOSPITAL! NOWWWW!!!!"

Kagome's eyes bugged out of her head. "O…okay!" She said, grabbing Sango. "We'll have to get a cab, though. I walked here."

Sango rolled her eyes. "Of course!" She shouted as they reached the door.

Luckily for the two of them, Sango's house wasn't far from a busier road and a taxi just so happened to be driving by as they approached the curb. Kagome waved it down and let Sango into the car.

"Hasegawa Hospital, please!" Kagome said to the driver.

"STEP ON IT!" Sango shrieked. The taxi driver spun out onto the road and headed for the hospital.

--

A/N

I like typing in caps. I'm also rather impressed with my luck. I sent Mayu to some elementary school, then decided to look up an actual hospital in Tokyo to be the name of the hospital… well, Hasegawa Hospital is a few blocks away from Higurashi Elementary School. This made me very happy… even more so because of the name. Higurashi. Seriously, google map it.

Thank you all for the reviews. I'm glad people are still into Inuyasha. Makes me feel really good about loving Inuyasha again. Haha

Please review. I love to hear what my readers think.

Love always

Patche