October 21

This evening we invited Miroku, Sango, and Shippo over to play some of the games we had brought back from my era. Three years ago I had taught them all how to play a few card games and stuff that we still played to this day. Now I had a stack of games from my era that I was sure they would enjoy.

Let me tell you, this was quite an interesting night.

They all came over and brought the children with them of course. Then we all settled down to get started.

"Ooh, you have fried potatoes!" Shippo said happily as he opened the bag of chips I had put out for us to share.

"We also have some sodas," I said as I went to grab those from the kitchen along with a big bowl to put the chips in.

"You guys thought of everything," Miroku said as he opened a drink for himself. The twins had never had these things before and were fascinated.

"Well we figured since we were actually able to bring stuff back this time, we might as well be prepared," Inuyasha said.

"Don't let them have too much or all that sugar will have them bouncing off the walls tonight," I whispered to Miroku and Sango, to which they looked kinda worried. Then I sat back next to Inuyasha. "So what should we start out with?"

"Uno looks fun," Sango said, picking up the box of cards.

"Uno it is then," I said. I took the cards out of the box and began to shuffle them while I explained to everyone how it works. Then I dealt out seven cards each.

I think Uno probably wasn't the best thing to start out with.

It all started when Inuyasha put down a skip card and skipped over Shippo.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" Shippo exclaimed.

Inuyasha shrugged but was clearly amused. "You just happened to be next."

Then on the next round, Inuyasha skipped him again.

"Stop that!" Shippo said.

By now Inuyasha was laughing.

On the next round, Inuyasha put down a reverse card and Shippo still didn't get to go. Inuyasha nearly fell over laughing.

"That's not fair! He's not allowed to do that, is he Kagome?"

"Actually he is," I replied.

"But I haven't had three turns," Shippo pouted.

Lucky for Shippo, he was able to get his revenge later in the game when he was able to skip Inuyasha.

On another round, Miroku seemed to have every draw-four card in the deck and was relishing in his power.

He put down the first one and Sango had to draw four cards. She glared at him but accepted it. Then Miroku's turn came around again.

"Sorry, my dear," he said before putting down another draw four.

"What?!" Sango said in frustration.

A couple of turns passed and Miroku whipped out another draw four on Sango.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. Now there was fire in her eyes as she glared at him.

Miroku just shrugged. "What do you expect me to do, Sango? I just play the cards I have in my hands."

"Careful, Miroku. You might end up divorced by the end of the night if you keep this up," Inuyasha said with a smirk.

I played a reverse card so next time Shippo got to feel the wrath of Miroku's draw four.

"Oh come on!" Shippo said.

Now both Shippo and Sango had turned on Miroku who still maintained his innocence. I was glad Sango hadn't brought the hiraikotsu with her.

Then Sango won the next three games and Inuyasha, Shippo, and Miroku thought the game was rigged.

"How on earth would I have rigged the game?!" Sango said.

"It's just too convenient," Miroku said.

"I can't believe my own husband doesn't trust me."

"Alright, so how about we play something besides Uno now?" I said realizing my friends were way too competitive for this.

Shippo picked up the Monopoly box. "What's this one, Kagome?"

I figured Monopoly was the last game we should be playing right now, especially after Uno.

"How about we play something different…?"

"This looks fascinating," Miroku said. "I think we should play Monopoly."

"I agree," Sango said.

I sighed. "Alright, we'll play Monopoly."

I set up the game board and the money and explained to them how everything works.

"Wait, I have a question!" Shippo said.

"Yes?"

"What's a hotel?"

"It's like a really big inn." I finished explaining how the game works. "Okay, so now it's time to pick your game pieces."

"This is the most random selection of objects," Miroku said as he looked through the pieces.

"I'll be the dog," Sango said.

"Shouldn't Inuyasha be the dog?" Shippo said.

"Why you little…!" Inuyasha lunged at Shippo who ran across the room while Miroku and I held Inuyasha back from beating Shippo to a pulp.

"Settle down, honey. Shippo was just joking. Right, Shippo?"

"Yes," Shippo said with a pout.

We began the game and things started out smoothly enough. At least until Miroku started racking up a lot of property.

"Okay, this isn't fair. You have like 10 different properties," Sango said.

"You've got to be strategic about these things, my love," Miroku said. "Spend money on your property in the beginning and then the rest of the players pay you back later."

"For someone who's never played Monopoly before, he's got the right idea," I said.

Then Inuyasha went to jail.

"What the hell did I do to deserve to go to jail?!" Inuyasha said incredulously.

"You landed on the go to jail spot," Shippo said simply.

"How do I get out?"

"You have to roll doubles," I said.

But for the next three turns, Inuyasha couldn't roll a double and nearly flipped the board with frustration.

"There's got to be another way to get out of jail!"

"You can pay a $50 fine," I said.

"How am I supposed to pay a $50 fine when Miroku took all my money?"

"You still have a little bit left," Miroku said, although the triumph in his voice was apparent.

"I need to have something left for when I get out!"

Inuyasha tried rolling doubles for his next turn but didn't have any luck so he just paid the $50 fine.

On Sango's next turn she had to pick up a card. "Hmm, I've got a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card."

At that, Inuyasha fell out onto the floor. "You've got to be kidding me."

By the end of the game, Miroku had racked up all of the money and the rest of us were broke.

"I'm the king of Monopoly!"

This time Inuyasha really did flip the board.

"You're a bad sport."

"I say we do a rematch," Shippo said.

"We can dethrone Miroku another day, I think it's time to take the children home," Sango said. The twins were asleep on the couch and Shinichi had long since fallen asleep in her arms.

"Well, it's been fun you guys," I said as we started to clean up the game. "We've got a lot more to choose from next time," I said gesturing to the stack of games.

"We've got to play this one first to knock Miroku off his high horse," Inuyasha said.

"All of you are just jealous of my ability to strategize."