Disclaimer: I do not own the Inuyasha series or any of the characters.

Summary: Money is tight in the Higurashi household. Jan. 8, 2008.

Collected Works of a One-Shot Junkie

Providing

Inuyasha sprang across the stone-paved courtyard and approached the house, ears trained on the building already. Kagome might not even be home yet; she'd asked for four days to write her tests, and it had only been three and a half. But she usually got out of her school in the mid-afternoon, so she should be here already if she'd come straight home. If not, he'd just go track her down and bring her home to pack. He hoped he wouldn't need to. He hated having to wear the hat.

As he neared the front door, he caught the familiar sound of her voice coming though the open kitchen window. He paused, listening intently as her mother responded. Their voices sounded stressed; they were fairly calm, not panicky or frightened, but there was still a note of anxiety that made him furrow his brow. Slowly, he walked around the perimeter of the house and stood by the window, just out of sight.

"Well, at least the loan is paid off now," Kagome was saying. "That's one less thing to worry about."

"We'll just need to be careful about how we spend money for the next year or so," Higurashi-san said. "If we only buy the essentials and don't eat out too often, we should be able to make a go of it. I'll start watching for sales a little more closely."

"Will I need to give up soccer?" Souta spoke up, sounding more worried than his mother. "I know it costs a lot to be on the team. If it'll help…"

"Then you'll have time to train as a shrine priest instead," spoke up Higurashi-jijii, sounding enthusiastic.

"You won't need to give up soccer, Souta," Higurashi-san said, and Inuyasha could picture the admonishing look she'd be aiming at the old man out of the corner of her eye. "I've budgeted for that. I wouldn't ask you to give that up except as a last resort."

"I can start saving my pocket money for more important things," Kagome announced. "I'll tell the girls I can't go to WacDonald's so often when I'm here, and I'll stop buying so much snack food to take with me when I go through the well. Shippou-chan needs to stop eating so much junk food anyway. And I'll use my own money to stock up the first aid kit, so you don't need to worry about that, Mama."

"We'll be just fine," Higurashi-san replied. "I know you'll all help."

Inuyasha stood still, absorbing everything he'd just heard, as the sounds of Kagome, Souta, and Higurashi-jijii leaving the room washed over him. Kagome's family was running out of money? And a loan? He understood what that was, at least. They'd had to borrow money, and now that they'd paid it back they didn't have enough left over. Kagome had said that the people running Nihon (did they still have lords? He wasn't sure) gave them some money towards running the shrine, and they made additional money from the part time job Higurashi-san had taken and from the things Higurashi-jijii sold to "tourists" who visited the shrine. Kagome also said that sometimes people donated money to the shrine too, but that they couldn't really count on that money. But there seemed to be so many things in this era to spend money on. It baffled him. People lived so close together that they couldn't even grow their own food here. The shrine grounds were paved with stone, so the only room for a garden was out back, and it was too small to be very useful. Higurashi-san mostly grew strawberries and some herbs for cooking.

He suddenly wondered how much ramen cost. Had he unknowingly been worsening their situation? He'd never thought about repaying Kagome's family for feeding him. Sometimes he helped out the old man around the shrine when he was bored, waiting for Kagome to come home. Sometimes Kagome's mother asked him to help her with things, like lifting up furniture while she cleaned under it. But none of that helped repay them for spending money on him.

At one time he wouldn't have cared. But now, the idea of the family who'd practically adopted him (to the extent that he let them, anyway) going without, while he could get everything he needed with relative ease… It went against something fundamental in him. What kind of man would he be to allow something like that?

Everything was quiet inside the kitchen now, and Inuyasha got curious. Slowly, he leaned over to peek in the window, half-expecting the kitchen to be empty. But inside, still seated at the table, was Higurashi-san. She wasn't quite facing him, but he could see her face as she studied the pile of papers in front of her. No doubt she'd been hiding it before, but the subtle clues he had picked up on from her voice were now showing in her expression — faint stress marks around her mouth, worry lines creasing her brow, frustration evident in the tightness of the skin around her eyes. And underlying it all, a sort of sadness that reminded him so keenly of the way Haha-ue used to look when she'd speak of Oyaji. Was Higurashi-san missing her mate as Haha-ue had missed hers?

His mind made up, he went back around the outside of the house again and jumped up onto Kagome's window sill, startling a gasp out of her. He perched there for a minute, working out how much he wanted to reveal.

"Stay here another day," he told her finally. "I've got something I need to take care of."

"What…?" she started to ask, but he let himself drop back to the ground and took off for the well.

"Higurashi-san?"

As Inuyasha stuck his head in the door to the kitchen, Kagome's mother looked up from the sink where she was washing the breakfast dishes.

"Inuyasha-kun!" she greeted him. "Are you here for Kagome? She just left for school."

"I know," he said, feeling nervous. "I gotta show ya something."

She looked at him curiously as she dried her hands on a towel, but she followed him outside without protest. He led her to the well house, where he opened the doors and showed her what he'd brought through with him.

She stared for a minute, not quite sure what she was looking at. Inuyasha's nervousness grew.

"What's all this?" Higurashi-san asked, seeming bewildered.

"A good-sized deer, five hares, some ducks and pheasants, and a bunch a' fish," he said. "It's all been gutted and skinned — or plucked, scaled, whatever. I just need to know how ya want it cut up."

"This is all for me?"

Inuyasha watched her expression carefully. "Kagome told me once that yeh can keep food for ages in that big cold box. I can bring more when this is all gone. Do you like boar meat?"

Higurashi-san turned wide, surprised eyes towards him. "But why…" Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "Did Kagome tell you about the money?"

"No," Inuyasha said. He hesitated while she looked sceptical. "I came yesterday and heard yeh all talking in the kitchen," he admitted.

Higurashi-san's expression turned reserved. "This is very generous of you, but I can't accept any charity," she said, averting her eyes, and he was horrified to see shame on her face.

"It ain't charity!" he hastened to explain. "I wanna buy some ramen from ya, only I don't got any money, so I'll trade ya instead."

"Inuyasha-kun, this is worth far more than all the ramen you've ever eaten," Higurashi-san declared quietly, still not looking at him. "And I've never expected any reimbursement for that. You're a part of the family."

Inuyasha tried to ignore just how pleased her announcement made him feel. "Well, in my era I'm old enough to be an adult, so if I'm part of the family, then as a man it's my job to make sure yeh've all got enough, ain't it? So it can't be charity, unless yer lyin' about me bein' part of the family. Y'ain't lyin', are ya?"

"Of course not," she replied. "But…"

"Well then, that's settled."

She seemed to give up at that point, and finally looked him in the eye again. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Inuyasha-san," she said, and to his renewed horror, she bowed quite deeply.

He wanted to make her stop. Someone like her shouldn't be bowing to the likes of him. Worse still, when she straightened up, her eyes were shining with tears, and his first, panicked thought was that she was nearly as bad as Kagome. Thankfully she didn't cry. She did, however, hug him, which was almost as embarrassing as if she had started crying. At least she wasn't doing both.

"Here, quit it," he protested weakly, getting hold of her arms and carefully peeling her off. She visibly got herself under control and offered a smile. This was more familiar territory. "Now show me how ya want all this cut up. Yeh'll never get a deer in that cold box whole."

:: Owari ::

Translations:

Jijii – rude way of referring to an old man/grandfather

Nihon – Japan

Haha-ue – mother, respectful and archaic word

Oyaji – father, rude word (usually translated as "my old man")

Arigatou gozaimasu – thank you, very polite, formal