AN:
By the way.. this isn't about Asami.. it's really about the Inuyasha gang.
Hanyou= half-demon
Miko= priestess
…
Kagome couldn't believe her ears. Asami.. a hanyou?! That would explain why it feels weird around her, but then again, if there's a hanyou now how come I never noticed any others? "Wow.. that explains a lot."
"Yes.. I suppose it does. It must have been strange, not knowing why you felt a strange presence. But that is why we fostered her. There are so few mikos nowadays, and only we would understand the reasons why she might act a little strangely. Plus I knew her mother well, so it worked out quite nicely. Poor Asami. Her mother died only two weeks ago, so we hope to adopt her soon. It is not easy being a hanyou in modern-day Japan, when so few people even acknowledge that they might exist."
"Yeah.. I guess. I never really thought about things like that before." Kagome watched the three on the swings. Houjo waved happily and walked over.
"Are you feeling ok, Kagome? Hikari, Asami, and I, we're going down to the café. Do you want to come with us? I mean, if your knee still hurts then I guess.."
Remind me to give grandpa that lecture I promised earlier when I get home.. "Hehe.. my knee's fine. Really!"
"Then would you join us? I mean, if we can go, Morimoto-san?"
Poor Houjo. He really did try his best… "Ano.. I really should be getting home!" Kagome felt sorry for him. But now she really wanted to go back to the Sengoku Jidai. This was all a little too much for her to absorb. Of course.. there was still the problem with the well…
Tomoyo saved her. "Houjo, perhaps another time. I have to talk to Kagome about something. You three go ahead; I'll join you later."
Houjo looked dissappointed for a moment, then brightened and smiled and waved. "Okay, Kagome!"
Tomoyo pointed to a nearby bench. "Shall we sit?"
"Now, tell me what's going on. Something's going wrong, and it can't be the loads of homework coming your way."
"Well.. you see, there's this well, the bone-eater's well at our shrine. I can go back to the Sengoku Jidai through the well. But yesterday.. I tried to go back, and I couldn't."
"Has this happened before?"
"Only once, but then.. my friend.. from the Sengoku Jidai.. he came, and then I could go back."
"Hm.. there was a jewel in the legend. The Shikon no Tama. Your grandpa is forever trying to sell replicas of the thing. I was forced to buy one when I visited your shrine one day, just to make him stop babbling about it."Kagome laughed. It did sound like something her grandpa would do.
"The Shikon is powerful. Does this… bone-eater's well.. work on its power, perhaps?"
"It might.." Kagome thought hard for a short moment. Then she remembered. "Yes! The time when I couldn't get through, I didn't have the shards with me! That must be why!" A more sober thought struck her. "And I don't have the shards now! AIEE!!! That means I can't go back, unless someone takes the shards to the well!!" Kagome jumped up in a panic.
"Calm down, Kagome. I'm sure one of your friends will remember sooner or later."
"Ohhh.. I hope so!"
…
Inuyasha snorted. "Why hasn't she come?! It's so like her, just leave us here. Well, fine! We don't need her anyways. I'll go find the shards myself. Let's go."
Miroku seemed undisturbed by the outburst. "Inuyasha. You know very well that we do need Kagome to find those shards. Besides, what would happen if we run into Naraku's reincarnations again? What would you do if Kagura showed up? The only one who can pierce Kagura's wind attacks is Kagome."
Sango agreed, "Yes. And none of us has the ability to sense shards, only Kagome does. I doubt you would have found out about Kouga's shards if Kagome hadn't pointed it out to you."
Inuyasha huffed. "Feh!.. That coward only needs shards 'cause he isn't strong enough to beat me. Besides, I have Tetsusaiga, and it can slay just about anything. What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Shaking his head, Miroku sat down. "We should not run into battle. Inuyasha, we need Kagome's ability to sense shards. As Sango said, none of use can sense them, so we would only be wandering around without knowing where we should go. And what would we do if Kagome did show up and we weren't here? Then what would she do? We must wait for her to come. Besides, perhaps if we go talk down to the village, we might be able to do something while we wait, instead of wandering aimlessly."
Shippou chirped, "I miss Kagome.."
"Fine. You three can stay. I'm going to hunt for jewel shards. Don't you remember?! The more time we waste here, the more time Naraku has to find shards! And he's already really strong, you want him to get even more power?!" With that, he began to walk away.
Only to be stopped by a very painful bonk on the head from Miroku's staff.
"You.. you! Aghh! What the heck did you do that for?!" Inuyasha ranted at the very calm monk.
"It was to stop you from making a foolish decision. If you are caught alone, with Naraku and his reincarnations, we will not be there to help you. And most assuredly, you would need our help. In case you haven't noticed.. you haven't exactly been able to beat Naraku or any of his reincarnations by yourself."
And while Miroku gave this speech as calmly as if he were talking about the sky, steam began pouring out of Inuyasha's ears. "Why… you! Are you implying that I'm not strong enough?!"
"I am not implying anything. I am merely stating the truth."
"AAAGGHHH!!!" Inuyasha made a swipe at Miroku, who calmly sidestepped out of range.
Sango rolled her eyes. "Ohh boy. Here we go."
…
I wonder what Inuyasha is doing… Wait, why am I thinking about that jerk? He's probably seing Kikyou again. GRRRGG!! "Hmph! Inuyasha.. you're such a fool." She turned back to her homework. Only 1 more page of questions to go.
And half a page later, she had to stop. She was tired.. Please.. someone.. bring the Shikon to the well!
Meanwhile, she had a lot of thinking to do. Was this a coincidence? That the week the new girl appeared, that she would forget the Shikon back in the Sengoku Jidai? And why did she only find out about Hikari's family now? Surely.. no, it was just all a coincidence. She sighed.
It all felt so strange, being a miko. And her powers.. felt so useless here. There had only been a single occurrence of a demon in her time, and there were no shards unless she brought them with her. Then again.. if there was a hanyou now, did that mean there were more? More hanyous, more youkais? Hopefully she could find out more from Morimoto-san. The miko was nice.
Which brought Kagome to thinking about Asami. So the girl was a hanyou.. you didn't hear people talking about hanyous nowadays, and Kagome certainly had never thought she'd actually meet one from this time. Speaking of hanyous.. there was one particularly difficult hanyou that Kagome wanted to check up on. And, unfortunately, was unable to. Inuyasha.. don't you go and get hurt while I'm away! And don't you dare go see Kikyou. Or, so help me, I'll .. I'll SIT you a thousand times when I get back!
Kagome turned back to her homework, but just couldn't concentrate. All she could think of was Inuyasha. Why do I keep thinking about him? It's not like I love him or anything. Heck, he's the most disagreeable, most stubborn hanyou ever! Still.. I can't help thinking about him…
She sighed. It was no use trying to do homework now, not with thoughts of Inuyasha running rampant in her head. Inuyasha.. wait for me…
…
"Kagome? Kagome! What are you still doing here?!" Grandpa shook his fist at her. "I just thought of the perfect excuse today, why do you have to go to school?! Ohhh.. just when I think of the good ones you always show up."
"Grandpa.. You haven't told the people at school anything weird, have you?"
"What do you mean, weird? Getting chicken pox isn't all that weird at all!"
"GRANDPA!! Only little kids get chicken pox!"
"Oh really? Too bad. Well, maybe I can say you caught it because of your weak immune system." He reached for the phone.
"GRAANDPAAA!!! I'm still here! I'm going to school! You can't tell them I'm sick if I'm at school!!!"
"Eh? Oh.. well.. then I'll just have to use it next time."
Kagome ran out of the house. Sheesh. The things Grandpa comes up with, you'd think I had an immune system deficiency or something. She just barely made it to class before the bell rang.
At lunch, she sat with Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka, who exclaimed, "I'm amazed, Kagome. You so rarely manage to make a whole week to school! Are you sure you're feeling ok?"
"Really, I'm fine. Never felt better!" She dug into her lunch, eager to stop being asked such a silly question. Although given what she knew her grandpa could come up with, it might not seem so silly to those asking it.
"Hi, Higurashi!" It was Houjo. Oh no.. here we go again, Kagome thought. "You really must be getting better! Lately you only come for a few days, never mind a whole week!"
"Hehh…yeah.. I'm feeling great, thanks!"
"So.. are you doing anything after school today?"
Before Kagome could reply, Ayumi burst out, "Kagome's not doing anyth.."
"Yes, actually. Sorry, Houjo.. but I have something I have to do after school." Kagome glared daggers at Ayumi.
"Ano.. okay then, Higurashi! Uh.. guess I'll see you around then?" With another of his oblivious smiles, he walked off.
"KAGOME! How could you say no?! You just blew off a date with the cutest guy in school!"
"Weeell… I really do have something I have to do…"
"This doesn't have anything to do with that two-timing guy, does it?"
"…"
"It does, doesn't it! Kagome, why don't you just forget this guy? Obviously he isn't worth the time if he's two-timing on you! Besides, he can't possibly be better-looking than Houjo!"
"Uhh…" Kagome didn't know what to say.
…
"Hey, Kagome, wait up!" It was Asami. "So she told you? That I'm a hanyou?"
"Yeah. I had no idea.."
"I guess. And you're a miko! I'm so happy; you're one more person I can share with. Not a lot of people would believe me if I told them I'm a hanyou. I guess.. I look a lot more like my mom than I look like my dad. That's what she kept saying, the only thing other than youki that I got from my dad is the eyes and the ears. I don't really mind, I guess.. it makes it easier for me to fit in. Morimoto-san and Hikari-san are so nice to me, to them my being a hanyou is just a part of me. They don't treat me differently just because of it. You have to promise though, not to tell anyone. So far it's only the three of you who know."
"I won't tell anyone. And you promise not to tell anyone I'm a miko?"
"Sure. So why don't you go out with Houjo?"
"Well.. it's pretty complicated."
"Does this have to do with your being a miko..?"
"Sort of, yes."
"I see.. well.. then you don't mind if I ask him out…?"
Oh, please! I'm not even here half the time.. "Go right ahead." It would give Houjo a good reason to stop giving 'me' all those medicines.. what does grandpa do with all that stuff, anyways? Poor Houjo.. well, he'll probably be a lot happier with Asami. At least she'll actually be around.
…
"Sango.."
"You feel it too?"
"Yes. Something is coming this way.."