The way Yuki and Suki saw it, this Kagome woman needed to go.
From the first day she came, they knew she was trouble. They had been playing a perfectly fun game of 'who can annoy uncle the most' (It was always Suki), when he suddenly stood up, passing them off to Shippo with a distant look in his eyes. Uncle was fast, there was no question about that, but unless there was a reason for him to be on high alert, he was downright lethargic. Still, Uncle Inuyasha needing space wasn't anything new, so it wasn't terribly worrisome that he took off at high speed; It did, however, raise a few red flags when Shippo shook them off and headed in the dog demons direction, screaming "it's her! She's back!"
Mama and papa had scooped them up in a hurry, scurrying towards the old well. Suki was worried, pouting like she always did, but Yuki, being the older of the two, knew something exciting and out of the ordinary was about to happen.
And then they saw it.
Uncle pulled a girl- an actual, live girl!- out from the well. They looked half-frozen, the pair not moving until Mama let out a noise, halfway between a gasp and a sob, and picked up her pace. She was wearing the strangest cloth, shorter than anything they had seen. Uncle Inuyasha held onto her, refusing to let her hand go- he looked almost scared, if such a thing were possible. Yuki wished he would move her aside so that way he could pull out some other sort of treasure. If he could pull out an entire person, what other wonders could the well produce? What was going to come out of the magic well next?!
The girls were sorely disappointed to find that uncle did not pull out a new doll for them, or cloth or even a sweet. He didn't even try! He was too busy looking at Kagome to even see if they could even get a treat; its like his eyes are glued to the strange woman! Even when they tugged on his fire rat asking him to play tag or throw them high into the air, but he quickly dismissed them a promise to play another time. The whole night it was as if they were forgotten. Suki wanted Shippo to play hide and seek, but he sternly told them no; Stranger still, their big cousin Shippo who was so mature and 'too big for baby games' was cuddling up with this stranger, right in her lap! Mama and papa were so caught up in her stories and crying and laughing that they had no time to play. When they descended on uncle, full of energy and bored to death, he had very little patience for them. The hanyou, who normally let them do as they pleased was far too wrapped up in Kagome. Yuki had wanted to climb up him, to perch on his shoulders and pet his ears- something she had done a million times! So what if she had kicked that lady in the head in the process? Uncle never complained about them being too rough before. But one little kick and suddenly Uncle Inuyasha was angry? He picked her up and set her down, giving her a stern look and a warning never to do that again.
The rest of the night hadn't proved any better, and by the time it was dark and sleep was sure to come, they were both glad to be done with the day and put this Kagome business behind them.
~.~
Uncle wasn't mean, never scary. At least not to them.
They had heard stories, of course, about what a fearsome warrior he was; how he and papa had defeated the greatest evil the world had known. They had seen the power of his sword when he cleared the land for the construction of new homes. It was hard to imagine their uncle as the dangerous demon from the stories when he was more of a puppy than anything.
But when Yuki had asked when Kagome was going back down the well after an exasperated day of everyone fawning over Kagome, the look on his face made her think differently.
~.~
Over the next few weeks Yuki and suki began to see sides of him they hadn't before. Uncle had always let them tag along, let them go where ever he did if they wanted- but now they had to stay at home, tethered to mama and papa.
"Uncle needs space." Mama said. "Kagome has been gone a long time and they need to be alone together."
"But why?" Suki had asked.
"They have a lot of catching up to do." Papa has explained. "You girls need to let them be. Uncle is going to be upset if you bother them."
Uncle had never minded them hanging around; and with the new baby, they were even more anxious to head towards his house and ask him to go for a run or to catch fish together. But when they arrived, they could hear Uncles voice, different from anytime they had heard to before, deep and serious in a concerning way.
"Woman, you're driving me crazy."
He said it himself! Kagome was no good, and making him nuts. If this woman wasn't here, he wouldn't be that way. They could play together again, and Mama wouldn't spend all her time teaching Kagome how to cook (seriously, who doesn't know how to make rice? Even they knew how to do it!).
Yuki had wanted to stay, to tell Kagome it was time to back to where ever she came from, but Suki had another idea, and with the way Uncle sounded, it was better to leave them be.
Besides, the two of them had work to do.
~.~
It had been nearly two weeks since Kagome had emerged from the well and their lives had been turned upside down; two weeks of that woman constantly barging into their home, borrowing Mama's clothes or talking about seals and spells with Papa. Two weeks since Uncle had turned into a different person- maybe that's why Kagome was so interested in Papas work- maybe she really was a witch!
She had seemed overjoyed when they asked her to go for a walk, complaining of being cramped in the house. She had practically jumped for joy when they turned to her, batting their eyelashes and smiling excitedly. They left swiftly after that, Kagome letting them lead the way to the 'special spot' they wanted to show her.
They had to give it to her, the woman knew how to talk; she was cheerful and chatty, asking questions about them they naturally wanted to answer.
When they came to the well, Yuki ran ahead, instructing Kagome to keep up. Suki fell behind a pace, and when Kagome came towards the wooden well, Sukis small hand reached out to push her down.
She had tried, but she had failed.
Kagome was sturdier than she looked.
"Were you trying to push me in?" She demanded, a deep wrinkle in her forehead making her look more fearsome.
Suki tried to hold her ground, bottom lip quivering even if her voice was steady. "Yes. You need to go back in!" She cried, gripping Yuki's hand for support.
"Go back in?" Kagome echoed. "W- why?!" If Yuki had known better, she would have thought that she sounded hurt.
"Everything's different since you came here!" Yuki said, stomping her foot for good measure. "I want things to go back to the way they were before!" She hadn't meant to cry, but she couldn't help the hot tears that sprang out as she fell to the ground, bringing her sister down with her. "It's not …Not fair." Yuki said between sniffles.
At this, her face softened as she slumped down to the ground. "I think I understand." She leaned her head back against the old wooden well. "I felt like that a few times in my life."
Suki sniffed, looking up at her with critical eyes. "Y-You did?"
"Oh yeah, of course." Kagome said, waiving off her concern. "When I first came here and met Inuyasha, he was really stubborn- even more than he is now. I wanted to go back home and go back to my normal life."
"That's not the same." Yuki said crossly.
"No," she admitted, "But I did want to push him down a well." When her joke didn't get the reaction she hoped for, she looked up towards the sky and smiled, but somehow still looked sad.
"When my brother Souta was born it was a nightmare for me. I was an only child and suddenly everything was about him. I probably made a few comments about sending him back too."
"What did you do?" Yuki asked, still skeptical.
"I tried to get along." She shrugged. "What else could I do? And after a while I really liked being a big sister, even if he could be a pain at times. I really… really do miss him."
"Then why don't you go back?" Suki asked.
"Because I love Inuyasha." She answered simply. "This is where I belong. And besides, your Mama and Papa are my family too. I hope someday, you'll think of me as family."
She smiled, and it was hard to resist someone so earnest.
"Will you play with us?" Yuki asked, still the hint of stubbornness in her voice that was all her mothers.
"Of course!" Kagome brightened.
"And you'll make Uncle stop being so grumpy?" Suki crossed her arms now, angry at Inuyasha. "He never wants to play anymore and never takes us for runs."
"I can try." Kagome laughed, "But I wouldn't worry too much, Inuyasha was planning on asking you two to go fishing later today."
"Really?" They asked in unison, eyes large and hopeful.
"Really." She smiled. "He misses you too."
Yuki stood up, full of energy. "We better go then!" She said, reaching out her hand. Without a word, Suki followed, her small hand extended.
They walked back home, hand in hand.
Maybe Kagome wasn't so bad.
