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-

"You said you were thinking about Gymnastics, right?"

Kagome pulled the two pamphlets from her bag, "I grabbed the brochure for the tennis club without thinking about it. I don't have the equipment to play though." She looked the gymnastics brochure over and eyed the leotard. "Maybe I should just join track."

"You run?"

"Yeah, it's another escape."

"Can I ask what it was you ran from?"

"...boredom. I ran when I was bored, and I ran when I had a lot to think about."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, I did. I still do."

Smiling, he took a drink from the smoothie in his hand. "Then that seems to be a good place for you to start. You have time to try new things, right?"

"Maybe,"

He eyed her. The look on her face was contemplative, she was seriously thinking about something, and he wondered what it was that weighed so heavily on her mind. "You know, I can play Tennis."

Her head shot up, "you can?"

"Ah..." he placed his lips back on the straw, hopeful that it'd stop him from saying something that would humiliate him. He thought carefully before continuing, "I could teach you some. Mind you, I'm nothing like my brother."

"Well," she smiled, "that's okay, I'm not my brother."

-x-x-x-

Daichi sighed, his eyes trailing over the room where Kagome used to sleep. It wasn't a shabby room, it was just, lonely. It was empty.

"When Kagome was first brought to me, she was a small little thing. She was six, almost seven, and she was scared. So very scared. She had night terrors for the first several months. She counted them, the nightmares..."

Daichi walked towards a dresser, crouching down, he noted a couple hundred tiny tally lines along the border of it. His fingers trailed over the indents. A good number of which were sloppily carved into the wood, getting straighter and smoother the higher they got along the dresser. When they started, when they ended...

"For a while, Sesshoumaru, my oldest son...he stayed in the room next to hers in case she woke up screaming or crying. He was quite protective of her. However, as the terrors stole away her nights, she began to retreat inside of herself. She didn't keep anything in her room, drawings and such, she didn't care for them. She did like books though."

He eyed the fairly small pile of books on the floor in a messy pile. Beside it, the small single door closet. He opened the door and eyed the empty racks. Sitting down, he read the titles over, "Exposing the Eyes: Hidden Beneath the Smile, The Line Between Black and White, Shadows and Their Ancestors, Dreams and Memories: How to Overcome Past Grief, The Winter Solstice and Summers' Song..." he picked the pile up and walked to the dresser, placing them down, he lifted the first one and sat down on the bed before opening it.

"To understand her, you should immerse yourself in her life up till this point. The people she'd surrounded herself with, and the things she did before. Did you know she has a weakness for pretty things? She loves flowers, and she loves to dress up, but she feels uncomfortable if she's seen liking that kind of stuff. She loves to be doted on but is scared to bother those who mean the most to her. Sesshoumaru knows her the best...so maybe I should send him to you. I'll show you to her room and send my son to talk to you while you look around."

"This is a college prep book for Psychology..." he frowned, "she's at this kind of reading level? She should be a grade ahead if she can keep up with these topics..."

"She's smart, but in a different way."

Daichi turned and stood, facing a young man who looked roughly around the same age as Kouta. "You must be Taisho-San's oldest son?" His hair was tied back, so he couldn't see it well, but the silvery white hue told him who he was. That said nothing about those piercing golden orbs that seemed to be analyzing him in a cold and penetrating manner. Daichi swallowed at the long silence that followed his question, finally the boy spoke.

"Only son,"

Daichi frowned, "does she know that?" He was pretty sure he'd heard the matron of the orphanage say oldest son.

"It's not of shared mind. My opinion of my father's other family is not popular with my mother. I don't think family gossip is why she sent me here though." He looked at the book in his hand, "you won't understand her simply by reading the books she read. She read what was available to her. These were not chosen by her, just convenient to her."

"..." Daichi sighed, placing the book down beside him. He watched Sesshoumaru as he walked out of the room, pausing, he looked over his shoulder. "Hm?" He watched the boy sigh before he continued walking. "...am I supposed to follow him?" He stood and chased the boy; his eyes trailed the length of the boy's hair and his eyes widened. 'It's longer than his mother's...' He resisted the urge to reach out and grab the ponytail. 'What the hell is wrong with me!? As if thinking of an older, married woman in such a light as finding her attractive, isn't bad enough. Her son too...!?' Daichi dropped his head and brought his hand to his cheeks, rubbing hard against them in his attempt to force the red away. "Just...curious...but how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

'Let's make a list of reasons I just can't think like this. He's underage, he's a guy, he's the son of the woman who I think is also attractive...I need a girlfriend. That's what this comes down to. No one attractive at my university, yet in a matter of three hours, I've landed upon two beauties. More attractive than any of the girls at my school, both of them.' He shook his head. Suddenly, jolted out of his thoughts when he walked straight into Sesshoumaru who turned back and raised a brow curiously at him. "S-sorry."

"You're what they call, featherbrained...aren't you."

Daichi flushed, "n-no...I was distracted by my thoughts."

Sesshoumaru smirked, "you must have been thinking of something bad,"

"No, I wasn't! What makes you say that?!"

He chuckled and walked into his room, "get off the floor, idiot."

Clenching his fists, Daichi pushed all of his previous thoughts of the boy from his head vehemently as he refrained from making any brash comments to full the boys' cocky attitude.

"This was Kagome's, she left it here when she was adopted the first time."

"A journal? That's a bit of a breach on personal space,"

Sesshoumaru tilted his head a bit at that. "Personal space...you really are an idiot. This is a breach on privacy," he stepped up to Daichi and leaned forward a bit. "I can give you an example of your personal space being breached..."

Daichi wasn't sure what to do. His mind was gone, his eyes were captivated by the amber specks that were nearly hidden beneath the golden layer of sunlight that shined within his eyes. He felt like he was melting. Placing his hand in front of him, he caught his breath and gently pushed on the kids' shoulder. "Right, right, I get it. Used the wrong terminology. Don't tease this Ouji-San." He scoffed at his own words before snatching the journal from the others hand and walking to the bed where he sat down and opened it to the first page. "...hm? Wait, this date is before Kagome came to the Orphanage."

"Wow, you really do catch on fast. I guess some people really can survive on looks alone."

'Th-this kid...!' Daichi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You know, you don't need to stay with me, I can read on my own."

"Are you sure? If you get stuck on a word, I won't be around for you to ask."

"Alright, I'm in college, give me some credit! I'd like to think that I can read at a five-year-olds grade level!"

"I would hope that you could read at your own grade level..." Sesshoumaru walked towards the desk and sat in the chair. "Well, I'm not leaving either way. This is my room we're in, and that's my bed you're on."

Daichi had never moved so quickly in his life. Standing and shuffling away from the bed.

"I didn't take you for a germaphobe,"

"I'm under the impression that you just really like mocking me, but I ask that you hold off long enough for me to read what you gave me."

"As you wish," he stood and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him but not before he glanced back and gave a small smirk to the boy who was clutching his hand over his heart and fighting down a blush.

Daichi looked up as the door snapped softly shut. Falling backwards on the bed, he didn't care if it was the kids, he was gone now. Rolling over, he looked at the Journal.

THIS IS KAGOME'S JOURNAL!

NO MOMS OR DADS ALLOWED!

PLEASE!

He smiled; he could almost hear her yelling as she wrote this on the first page. Turning it, he acknowledged the date. "April 12th, 2002..."

Mama bought me a journal and said to write a lot. Things I think about and things I like. Things I do and things I want to do. I don't know how this works, but I'll do my best! Until tomorrow, Kagome out!

"Kagome out...kami, what kind of kid..." he laughed. Taking in the next few pages. They were dated and the scrawl was just as messy as the first entry. Short bits here and there, he noticed how they got longer and longer. The first to really catch his eyes was dated September 29th of 2002.

Daddy took Mama and me to the Aquarium today. When we were looking at the Penguins, they had the babies out playing and Mama told us that we'd "have one too soon". Dad started crying. I don't know why; I think having a baby Penguin in the house would be good for the family!

UPDATE! UPDATE!

We aren't getting a Penguin, Mama told me clearly. She's having a baby!

Kagome is going to be a big sister!

Hey Diary, just wait...I'll fill you with all sorts of stories about my new baby sister? Brother? I don't know yet, but you'll be the first one I tell when I find out!

Kagome Out!

He didn't get up for a while as he lay on the bed reading. So enthralled in the journey of this little girl, he never even noticed when the door opened and shut behind him. The gold eyes that looked him over curiously as owner of said as settled at the desk and watched him read. He never noticed...

-x-x-x-

Me: Alright, how many readers are going to yell at me for the Daichi romance troubles? I swear I'll get an earful, I usually do. Something like... "don't pair Sesshoumaru up with a guy" or "Daichi is twenty-one and Sesshoumaru is seventeen...it's not that much of an age difference but he's still underage." Or even, "it's gross having him attracted to mother and son..." I also might be reading too into it, but all the same. You have no idea what squeamish is until you've read "Gentle Papa" - Yaoi/Manga read it my dudes…and then come lecture me. I wonder who will make it past the first chapter. T.T Merry Christmas~