Chapter 14: Vacation's Over

Words: 1,400

Kagome grumbled to herself, puttering about her tiny apartment without any specific aim. She took out a bowl to make herself a snack, then couldn't decide what to eat. She sat down on the cushions by her kitchen table, picking up a magazine she had laying there, but after turning through three pages, she realized she wasn't seeing anything on the page, and threw it down in distaste.

She went through her bedroom to the balcony, where some of her clothing was hanging, still damp, and resigned herself to waiting there for it to dry, just staring out at the side of the apartment building next to hers. She heaved a massive sigh and leaned against the railing, listlessly looking down on the people below.

Waiting was horrible.

It had only been a week, she reminded herself. Only seven days. And still it felt longer than the nine years since she'd been to the Sengoku Jidai, since she'd seen the young kitsune she adored so much.

She heaved another sigh, and was only prevented from continuing her ill-tempered people-watching by a mocking sigh that seemed to come from inside her apartment. She turned, nose wrinkling in curiosity. She concentrated for a few moments, but she didn't hear it again. Still, she padded back into her apartment on slipper-laden feet and turned suspicious eyes to the likely offender: the yūreihana.

It sat, innocently enough, in its little blue flower pot, soaking up the mid-afternoon sun on her bedroom windowsill, the only source of external light in her apartment. The flower wasn't turned towards her; it had its petals spread wide to face the sun, but Kagome wasn't buying it. And, crazy though it might make her seem, she was almost certain this flower was mocking her.

"What?" she accused, hands planted firmly on her hips. "I can't sigh while I wait to hear anything about this search for my only remaining friend from the most important year of my life?" The flower didn't react. "Oh, you must think you're so special, relaying all of my information to that stupid… whatever he is. Just wait until I depot you. How's about that, Mr. High-And-Mighty?"

The bloom turned to her in a rush, its petals pinching together as a warning hiss echoed through the room. Kagome laughed, glad to at least have something to remind her how un-normal her life was again.

"Kagome-san?" She heard the call from outside, through the open glass door to her balcony. "Is that you?"

Kagome poked her head back out the door, seeing that her neighbor was also on her balcony, hanging up her own laundry. Kagome smiled somewhat sheepishly and waved. "Good afternoon, Kasumi-san."

"Who are you talking to in there, Kagome-san?" Kasumi asked, leaning over her balcony railing with a slightly worried expression. "You sound rather annoyed with them."

Kagome laughed awkwardly. "Ah, well, to tell you the truth, Kasumi-san, I'm scolding my potted plant," she said. "It's becoming rather… unruly."

Kasumi smiled softly. "Ah, I see. I have some clippers you could borrow if it becomes more of a problem?" she offered.

It amused Kagome greatly to hear the tiny squeak of fear from just inside her apartment. "I'll let you know if I have need of them, Kasumi-san. Thank you," she said, bowing her head slightly in goodbye and retreating back inside her apartment, closing the door to the balcony behind her. As she suspected, the yūreihana was pointed towards her, giving her what she'd come to identify as its "glare."

"Oh, hush," she scolded it again, more quietly this time. "You're obviously demonic, or at least infused with his youki, anyway. I'm sure you'd be fine." The flower huffed, sounding affronted, and Kagome grinned. But she could only keep the good cheer up for so long, and she soon found herself sighing again.

Her futon was still spread out on the floor beneath the yūreihana's perch, and she flopped onto it, trying not to think too much and utterly failing. "I don't suppose you can report anything to me, can you?" she asked, not looking back at the flower. "Or are your surveillance capabilities strictly one-sided?" The flower made no comment.

"Ah, I expected as much from you," she muttered, sitting up and stretching. "Guess there's really no reason for me to stay here. You're not going to give me any answers. And they can find me if they need me."

She stood, moving to her dresser to pick out some appropriate day-on-the-town clothes. It was her day off, after all. She'd had work the previous six days of her wait, which had kept her mind relatively busy and away from thoughts of Shippou and the men who were supposed to be finding him for her. Now that she was free, she had too much time on her hands. Which was why she was engaging in conversation with traitorous flowers.

She shot the offending bloom a glare as she stood in her underwear, trying to find a nice summer dress, only to find it staring at her in rapt interest. The petals were wafting gently open and closed, as though it were breathing, and it was pointed directly at her.

"What…," she began to ask, when she realized that the yūreihana was probably able to relay more than just scents back to its master. Probably, it could relay sounds and… sights, too. "You pervert!" She threw her shirt at the flower, covering it and hopefully preventing the youko on the other end from witnessing any more of her indecency. Not like it mattered now.

"Kagome-san?" she vaguely heard Kasumi call from outside again, sounding distressed. "Are you all right? Should I call someone…?"

"No! Thank you, Kasumi-san! I'm fine!" she called back, her cheeks burning red and her eyes stinging with tears. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why didn't I think of that sooner? She threw on the first sundress she found, grabbed her purse, and stormed out of her apartment, reminding herself to get those clippers from Kasumi as soon as she got back.

~o~

In the Makai, Kurama and Kuwabara were having no luck searching out this mysterious Shippou. "How in the world are we supposed to find one demon in all this mess?" Kuwabara grumbled, shaking the swamp water out of his shoes. The last demon they'd met had not taken kindly to their questions, and had driven them through the swamps with the fight.

"I'm not sure, Kuwabara-san," Kurama said, his eyes surveying their surroundings. They were supposed to have a report for Koenma today. It had been a week. And the only substantial information they had to show for their efforts was that the kit wasn't related to Kurama, not that he'd really thought that.

"There's gotta be a better way to find him," Kuwabara said, moving to stand next to Kurama at the edge of the swamps waters, leaning against a weeping willow.

"I know of one," Kurama murmured, his eyes glazed as he saw the fuzzy, black-and-white image of an angry miko, tossing a shirt in his direction, but not before he got an eyeful of her upper half. He'd seen it before, but he certainly didn't mind seeing it again. "I'm not entirely happy with the prospect, though."

"We can't bring the Shikon Miko into the Makai," Kuwabara argued, already knowing the option his companion was pondering. "You said so yourself. The demons around here are still in a frenzy from the last time she came in and they felt her mikoki."

"I know." Kurama shook his head, bringing his eyes back into focus. "But I have an idea."

~o~

"This…."

"I'm afraid it's necessary, Miko-sama," Koenma said apologetically through the crackle of the communicator static. The yūreihana was interfering with the signal. It didn't used to do that. But then again, it didn't used to be the size of her apartment.

"Why, again, is this necessary?" Kagome asked, just barely tamping down her temper. All she did was go out for groceries.

"With more of my youki, the yūreihana is more powerful, allowing a more direct connection," Kurama explained from where he stood by the window, feeding the flower more of his energy so it could continue to grow. "This way, I can directly communicate with you."

Her groceries slumped to the floor. Why me?