Temporary Home

Summary: Kagome would be the first to tell you that life wasn't easy. She would also tell you that she didn't want it to be. If not for the hard life she had, she wouldn't have the life she did...all thanks to them...

Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Prince of Tennis

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairing: Kagome (None)

Rated: T

-x-x-x-

(Two Weeks Later)

Kagome looked on in confusion at the dress that was being held out to her. "What's that?"

"Really, Kagome. You have been through this enough, I would think I needn't explain it to you."

Kagome frowned, turning her eyes away from the dress. "If we've been through this so many times, then by now, you should know how it'll end up. Why bother fooling ourselves?"

InuKimi sighed, sitting down across from Kagome, she stared at the ten-year-old for a moment before smiling. "What do I normally tell you when you are about to go home with a family?"

Rolling her eyes, Kagome spared the woman a disinterested look. "Home is where the heart is?" She answered, 'so send me off to heaven, that's where mine is.'

InuKimi grinned, "yep. However, I don't think I've ever really told you how much of a perfect fit a family was for you. Kagome, this woman came to me, and asked to sign your adoption papers, and when I asked her what her long-term outlook for your life was. She said, to give you a family where you can be free to live your life and be yourself. Her son sat beside her, running through a list of things he was going to show you when you got home. Home, Kagome. He called it your home." She lifted the dress, "let's give it one last try, Kagome. You'll never know if you don't try. This could be your forever home..."

"...or it'll just be one more temporary home." Kagome took the dress and sighed, "I'll get dressed then."

Giving one final look to Kagome, InuKimi stood and left back to her office.

'One last try?' She frowned, glancing to a picture frame, she walked over and picked it up. "Looks like we're going to another one...you guys will go with me, right?"

-x-x-x-

Kagome caught the reflection of a smiling Sachiko in the window of the vehicle she was sitting in. Her crimson maroon red hair was settled in a silky wave overtop her shoulders, barely brushing against the fabric of the blouse she wore. Her vibrant blue eyes were currently hidden behind shades to keep the sun from her eyes as she drove them home.

"―and the Elementary school is across the way from the Middle school that I go to! We can walk to school together, and I can introduce you to my friends! We can play at the park and go shopping together. There's the arcade and the animal store too! Would you like to go to the animal store, Kagome-Chan?!"

Kagome looked away from the window, the lace of the dress she was fidgeting uncomfortably with was being mangled in-between her fingers. Her eyes wild in frustration as she listened to Eiji run off at the mouth about all the things he wanted to show her and do with her. "Y-yeah. Maybe?" She couldn't focus.

He tilted his head and smiled, "Kagome-Chan looks so cute in her dress, but you don't look comfortable in it. Do you not like dresses, Kagome-Chan?"

She blushed and turned her head away so that he couldn't see her rosy cheeks. The reflective window didn't help to cover her embarrassment up. "I-Iie, this lace on the ends is itchy, I don't like when it touches me. Dresses ae fine, if the material isn't annoying like this stuff."

He laughed a bit and her face only seemed to burn brighter. When the car came to a stop, she looked out at the large house and her eyes widened. "Wah..."

"Nai, Kagome-Chan, Eiji Nii-San can introduce you to the family, nya! Hai?"

Kagome watched him run from the vehicle and around to her side where he threw open the door as she unstrapped the seatbelt. He held his hand out, her eyes staring curiously at the hand before she looked up into his friendly eyes. He was so kind. She considered the last few families she'd been a part of for the few weeks they'd put up with her.

The first family had been a recently married couple who hadn't wanted to go through the normal avenues of raising a child. They wanted one, yes, but they were too busy with work to deal with a baby or toddler, anyone under eight was too time consuming. They'd been polite, but not necessarily kind. She'd been open in how she'd spoken to them, and their traditional outlook and view on family had kept them from accepting her personality and getting any closer to her.

"If you adopted me for your image, then perhaps you would should have started with something small, like a dog."

"Your business partner looked impressed by the fact that I was a quiet well-mannered child. Really, what are you looking for in a family, or is Social Status all that matters?"

"I guess hugs and holding hands is asking for too much. Even between each other, the two of you never show love."

This went on for almost three weeks before she was taken back to the orphanage without a word spared in her direction.

The second family she'd been adopted into...they had an older daughter who didn't see eye to eye with Kagome. In the end, the parents who had actually been quite agreeable with Kagome's personality, had decided that she was clashing too much with their birth child. The daughter had run the family, and Kagome wasn't blind to that.

"You already have the perfect family of three, there's no need bringing a second child into the mix."

"Why did you feel the need to adopt without consulting your daughter? She's not happy, and because of that, neither are the two of you."

"There's no point in being a part of a family that only acknowledges one of their two children."

She simply bowed her head and let them guide her back to the orphanage, like the family before them. This one had gone two months before she'd been brought back.

The third family was rough. For Kagome, she was in the center of the family's sudden financial crisis. A week after they adopted Kagome, the husband lost his job, the family filed for bankruptcy, and after four weeks of yelling, fighting and pointing fingers, they decided Kagome was an added finance they couldn't afford.

"When times are hard, it's easy to point fingers at someone else."

"Even though you adopted me, it's my fault that you are troubled financially. I must also therefore be responsible for the fact that there is no air in space. I am; therefore, it is."

"When you take me back, will all your money trouble go away?"

Once again, she had been returned to the orphanage.

Each family had their own problems, but in the end, it always came down to Kagome. She spoke bluntly and it bothered them.

"How long?"

Eiji turned back just as he placed his hand on the doorknob. His mom stood behind them, looking just as curious by the two worded question. "How long until what, nya?" His breath caught in his throat as Kagome glanced up at him. Tears burning at the rim of her eyes, fragile, breakable. He was reminded of the fact that she was an orphan, and this was probably not her first or second time being adopted based on her age.

"How long before you guys send me back? I've been a part of a family already where there was an older child. They couldn't handle two kids, so I was sent back. If it's going to be like that, then we can skip to the end...I'm not interested in investing anymore of my feelings into families who don't care."

He dropped to his knees and pulled her into a hug. "That's not gonna happen. Kagome-Chan is going to be a very important part of the family. Kikumaru, Kagome-Chan!" He stood and grinned as he pushed open the door, "welcome home, Kagome-Chan~!"

-x-x-x-

Me: Here is chapter three. So many stories were waiting to be updated, I thought about posting as I wrote, but I decided, this would be a bulk Christmas Gift for all of my readers. Maybe updating once a month will be a good idea, lmao.