Jam and Marmalade
by Kei



AN: More bad news, guys. This chapter is short. Again. But I have an excuse! On Monday, I broke my wrist, so it hurts to type, and my typing speed has slowed down big time. I hate being a gimp. Typing speed was about the only thing that got chapters out on time, but alas...

So, more setbacks. And I'm still trying to get to email updates working, I'm just insanely lazy. -_- That's all there is to it...

Genre: Romance, Drama, Humor

The grass is always greener on the reviewer's side

Disclaimer: Blah blah, they're Takahashi's, yadda yadda.


Chapter Six: Saying Goodbye

Mr. Higurashi looked up at his daughter with a bit of surprise and nervousness, and smiled softly, "You've grown a lot since I last saw you. I admit I got the information out of your mother, I really want to talk to you..."

Sango looked confusedly between Kagome and the man in front of her.

Her friend looked at her pleading and asked, "Sango can you handle the counter for a few minutes by yourself? I'll be back."

She just nodding with an encouraging smile on her face and watched quietly as the father and daughter walked off quietly together to a remote corner and wondered what the heck was going on.

+ + +

Kagome didn't know what to feel like. How are you supposed to feel when your dad suddenly pops up out of nowhere after beating you and your mother, not visiting for 3 years, and suddenly decides he wants you to live with him? A bit sad, a little confused, and a whole a lot of mad.

She turned to face her father and all those years rushed back to her. How he had beaten her mother...left her with 2 kids...how she had been transferred from foster home to foster home because he mother couldn't support both of them...and it was all his damn fault. Kagome was mild tempered, but when she was mad, she got mad, and her dad, I'll refrain from describing him as "poor," was her target. She was like a volcano, the pressure finally reaching it point and, frankly, blowing up.

"I can't believe you! You think you can just come in here and say you're going to take me back? Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going! You never bothered except ONCE to even visit your family, and I don't really think you deserved it. Do you know what happened after you drank all our money away, beat us, and left? Mom couldn't find enough money to support us, so they took me away. I've had to pay for everything on my own. So you want me to just go and happily skipped back to live with YOU?" Kagome ranted, and at the end of her tirade glared stonily at her father, but felt so empty, and exhausted inside.

But she realized the emptiness wasn't a bad one, but rather like getting the weight off her shoulders, some she hadn't know she'd be carrying all these years. She was relieved, to say the least, and turned to her father, his feeble attempts of apology ignored.

She looked him square in the eye, tears streaming down her cheeks, and whispered, "I don't want you to come back. What you've done can't be simply apologized for, and it'll take me a long time to forgive you. So until I do, don't even come looking for me."

And Kagome turned her back on him with a sigh that would blow days, weeks, months away.

+ + +

After work was over, Sango walked Kagome home, quiet as her friend choked out the story to her.

"Wow, that's really tough," was all she could say.

"Yeah," the sniffling girl sighed. "But I feel kinda bad for just turning my back on him like that..." She trailed off.

"But he did exactly the same to you and your family," Sango reasoned. "So you have the right to do it, so you're even."

Kagome pondered her point for a bit and smiled weakly at her friend. "Thanks, I feel a lot better now."

"No problem at all! What are friends for after all?"

They walked up the stairs to Kagome's apartment, chatting lightly. When they reached her floor, a thought popped up in her head that made her stop in her tracks.

What about Makino? What am I gonna do!?

Sango stared at her quizzically for a second, then broke into her thoughts, "It's room 287, isn't it?" She pressed on the knob experimentally and was surprised to find it unlocked.

"Ah well, about that," Kagome started.

Sesshoumaru, seeing the door swing open slightly, took the opportunity to harass who he thought was his roommate.

"What took you so long..." he trailed off as he faced a gaping Sango. "What are you doing here?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

The younger girl yelped indignantly, "Me?! I should be asking you Makino!" Sango turned to Kagome, who was trying to prevent a fight, albeit futilely. "This creep broke into your house! Get him!" She started throwing punches at him, which he easily dodged.

Kagome watched them as they fought, but she grew exasperated with them real fast. "Will you two stop it before something gets destroyed?" she yelled, but they paid no attention. She got annoyed, and deftly stuck her foot out, tripping Sesshoumaru, who in turn stumbled and threw off Sango's balance, and they fell into a pile of limbs.

"What the hell was that for?! She was the one who just came in and attacked me!" Sesshoumaru growled, distangling himself from the other. All he got was a glare.

Sango stood up, dusting herself off and looking thoughtfully between the two. As Kagome turned toward her to explain, Sango smiled slyly.

"I know what's going on here..."


Glossary:
Did I use any?


AN: Cliffhanger! Nooooo! I'm sowwy _O

See you next time! ^-^ ~Kei