Title: Brush with Greatness
Author: landofthekwt
Rating: G
Universe: Canon
Genre: Family
Word Count:1243
Warning: None First Tweak- Brush One Shot. Spoiler for Chapter 553
Summary: Kagome meets her grandfather. A father and son are reconciled. The Jewels history
is revealed.
The stairs seemed to reach to heaven. When he had been younger they were no more than a hop,
a skip and a jump. But that had been before.. Before he was married. Before he had a child Before he told his father that he did not want to be a priest like him.
They had not seen Father since Kagome was born. Father had been so happy giving the hospital blessing at the birth of his grandchild. Little did either of them know that they would not see each other again before this day.
It had been his wife that had finally brokered a small truce between the two stubborn men. The occasion was Father's Birthday. With his wife and child present, he and his father could probably survive an afternoon without yelling at each other.
He had brought a small gift to give to Father. Maybe he should have given him a kappa's foot
or a mermaid's scale like the old man had always tried to foist on him. The thought gave him
considerable amusement.
His father had always been an old fraud. Bereft of any true power. Always thinking of another
scam to foist on the gullible shrine worshipers. It was this attitude that had driven him from the priesthood. How could one believe in the kami where their servant, his father, was nothing but
a mountebank
He had left the shrine and left his training for the priesthood and had never returned before today.
Today he was here only because his wife felt it necessary for her daughter to meet her grandfather.
They all finally reached the top of the steps and headed for the shrine office. He knew that he would find his Father there selling his trinkets and baubles to the faithful.
He checked out his little family before entering the office. He was dressed in a conservative business suit. The uniform of the Tokyo office worker The garb of the priest was not for him and he refused to dress in it merely to please the old man.
His wife, however, had insisted in dressing herself and her daughter in kimonos appropriate to the .shrine. He gazed at his daughter. She was so beautiful in her kimono. His father would love her dressed in traditional clothing. She was holding the kitten that she had received for her birthday.
He rang the bell and his father opened the door. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.
" I see that you still will not play the part I wished for you even for one day, even on my birthday." Said his father at last.
"Father, we have been over this. I will be civil for your birthday if you are willing to be civil to me. Lets play nice for my wife and daughter who have dressed for you. "
The old man nodded in agreement. He noted absently that Kagome reminded him so much of his late wife. They began to walk towards the house on the shrine grounds. When they got inside, Mrs. Higurashi set to work preparing the meal. Kagome was eager to help, but her mother was concerned that she was still too young
They prepared and served the tea while the rice cooked in the cooker that they had brought.
Mrs. Higurashi was so proud of the way that Kagome served the tea just as they had practiced it without spilling a single drop.
While the oden that they had brought was being reheated, Kagome offered her Grandfather a
selection of. sashimi while they waited. When the Oden was done, Kagome ate with great vigor. Oden had always been her favorite. She had insisted that her mother make it for the birthday dinner even though it was her grandfather's birthday.
It was pleasant enough repast. After dinner they retired to the living room where Grandpa began
relating the story of the Shikon no Tama. The story was sad. "The jewel had been entrusted to
a miko at this very shrine. An evil hanyou endeavored to steal the jewel. The mike with her last strength was able to seal him to the sacred tree, Goshinboku.. After she died the jewel was burned with her forever removing the jewel from the world of men."
"Kagome, would you like to see the tree?"
Kagome leapt up eagerly and followed her grandfather outside. She was eager to see where the evil hanyou was sealed. When she came to tree, she was puzzled.
"Where is the hanyou, Grandfather? I thought that you said that he was sealed here."
Her grandfather stammered. " I do not know what happened to him. Perhaps his body just disintegrated over time. It has been five hundred years after all."
His son took this statement as his cue. "Father, I found a scroll in an antiquities shop. I
bought it for you as a birthday present."
He pulled the scroll from his coat pocket and handed it to his father.
His father was shocked at what the scroll contained. It appeared to be another story about the jewel.
"Read it to us, won't you Father", his son said
The older priest began to relate the contents of the scroll. It told of strangely dressed miko
who unsealed the hanyou fifty years after he had died. She bound him with a leash and. he became her servant. The scroll told of how the jewel was broken by the miko. It also related the many adventures tthe miko and the hanyou had together.
It told of how the pair found additional companions to aid them in their quest to recover the jewel. An evil hanyou who coveted the jewel arose and took the jewel for himself. It said that that if the miko made the Right Wish on the Jewel that the Jewel would be purified and disappear for the world. In the end the miko was able to destroy the hanyou, but with dying breath he wished on the Jewel. As he died, the heavens opened and the miko and jewel were swallowed up in the void. The servant of the miko could not bear her loss and followed his master into the void.
As the old man finished, Kagome asked him "So what happened to the jewel and the miko and her servant."
"The scroll does not say, but isn't it enough to know that she was able to banish the evil hanyou
and the jewel from this world. She must have made the Right Wish on the Jewel because it has never reappeared since she left the world."
Kagome said. "I think it is so romantic that she was willing to sacrifice everything to get rid of the jewel and that her servant followed her into the void even though he did not know where it would take him."
The old man looked at his son and said. " I will always remember this kindness that you have done for me. There will always be a place here for you and your family." With those words the
priest hugged his son and all past wrongs and recriminations were forgiven and forgotten.
Kagome stared up at spot where the evil hanyou had been sealed to the tree.
She hugged the young kitten close to her and whispered. " Someday, Buyo, I will be a great miko just like the ones in Grandfather's stories and I will vanquish the evil hanyou and banish
the Jewel from this world. by making the Right Wish"
Buyo licked her face and looked at her with a knowing grin.