Chapter 2 – Reunion
"Inuyasha let me go!" Kagome said and tore her arm from his grasp. She fixed her backpack and began for the well again. "I need to go home. I promised my mother I'd be there to greet some family friends."
"Friends? You don't need them. I need you to find those damn shards!" He said and ran in front of her.
"Are they ever going to stop fighting?" Miroku asked no one in particular.
Shippou shrugged. "I don't think so. Its like a tradition now."
Miroku nodded and continued to watch the two's antics.
Inuyasha grabbed her arm again. "You're not going any where Kagome!"
"Who says so?"
"I say so! Now you're staying here, idiot, and that's final!"
Kagome tore her arm away from him again. "Yeah? Sit boy!" Inuyasha's face met the ground. "Hmph!" She said with a nod and went down the well.
Inuyasha jumped back up as quick as he could to try and catch her. When he looked down she was already gone. "Stupid girl. She better come back soon. I really don't want to go back there."
"She'll come back," Sango said. "She always comes back. Don't worry."
"She's stupid! She might get lost or something." Inuyasha looked down the well again.
"I don't think you give her enough credit, Inuyasha. She always comes back. Now settle down. I hate to knock you out." Sango rolled her eyes and started to head back for the village.
Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Do you know if there are any pretty women in Kagome's time?"
"Feh. How would I know?" the Hanyou said and turned away.
"Oh, that's right. You have a thing for Kagome. I keep forgetting that," Miroku said is a smile.
Inuyasha spun around. "Kagome! You've got to be kidding. Like I said before, she's just the jewel detector."
Miroku laughed. "Right, and this hole in my hand will be gone tomorrow."
"I could chop it off for you and save you the trouble of waiting," Inuyasha offered flexing his claws.
*~*~*~*~*
Kagome came into the house panting. "Are they here yet?" she asked her mother.
"Kagome! Dear, you didn't have to run."
"I didn't. I'm just excited."
Her mother smiled. "No, there not here. I offered to pick them up from the airport, but Redstone-san said they'd just rent a car. They should be here in time for dinner."
Kagome smiled. "Good, then I have time to bathe and change!" She ran up to her room and dropped off her backpack. She caught herself in the bathroom mirror before she got in the bath. She still had the Shikon Jewel fragments. 'Ha ha, Inuyasha!' she thought. 'Serves you right.' Kagome really wanted to have a nice soak, but she had to be ready to greet her friends.
'It's been almost seven years since I've seen them,' she thought as she settled into the tub. The families had kept in touch through letters, e-mails, and phone calls but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person. 'I wonder how much they've changed?'
She herself had changed a lot, that's for sure. She went from average girl to reincarnation of a priestess with a hanyou, youkai, taiji, and houshi for friends. Did she mention that she could see shards of the Shikon no Tama that she accidentally shattered?
Kagome laughed thinking that her friends would tell her that the same thing had happen to them. She just could imagine it. "Hanyou? Oh, yeah. I know one, except mine is half-cat demon. Naraku? Yeah, he's pissed off everyone here too."
She put her clothes on quickly and went to room to finish getting ready. It felt good to be home. A soft bed, running water . . . and homework. She groaned. Would it ever end? She had been attempting to do it, but it was difficult trying to do homework and staying alive at the same time.
Kagome had just got done brushing her hair when she heard a commotion down below. "Inuyasha?" Her heart skipped a beat involuntarily. She let a small laugh out. No. He was back with the rest of her friends. These were her other friends.
Quickly she ran down stairs. Her mother was giving Redstone-san a hug.
"Kagome!" a girl with tan skin and dark hair cried. She was about the same height as her.
"Kameko!" she cried and ran to hug the girl.
Kameko smiled look at her friend. "Its been to long. I wish we came sooner to visit, but after Mom . . ."
Kagome nodded. "I understand." She looked at the tall boy, who closely resembled his sister. "Clay, you've gotten really tall."
Clay smiled. "That's what happens in seven years. You've changed to, Kagome. You don't look like that little girl with pigtails I remember."
"Really!" a small girls voice was heard.
"Yeah, you wanna play it, Raven?" Souta asked the girl. Kagome remember her when she was still a toddler. The girl nodded and they ran off to play whatever game it was.
Then a thought stuck her. "You're Japanese. You speak it as if it was you first language," Kagome said.
Clay laughed. "Of course Kameko does. There's a saying our family that she knew how to speak Greek and Japanese before she knew English. She's a natural at languages. Taught me all that I know, and gave Raven a crash course before we left. Poor Raven was mumbling it in her sleep about Kameko being a cruel teacher!"
"I wasn't cruel!" She crossed her arms. "I was just a little touch, that's all."
"Kameko," Higurashi-san said. "What happened to that red streak in your hair?"
Reflexively her hand went to the top of her head. "Oh, I dyed it black to match the rest of my hair. It's coming out though. If you look closely you can see red peeking through. Hair dye doesn't last long on it. I'm sure by the end of our stay it'll be red. I'm not going to dye it anymore after this." Kameko put her hand back down. She had been born with a red streak in her hair. Her mother had an orangey streak in her light brown hair. Her family assumed that genes somewhere had kicked in and made hers red. Neither Clay nor Raven had one.
"You dyed it? Why do that?" Kagome asked. "I think its cool. If I had a streak in my hair I display it so everyone could see it."
"Dyeing hair," said Kagome's grandfather. "Wouldn't do it. Makes you go bald I hear." They laughed.
"Well, we thank you for having us over," Rafe said, he bowed and the two older siblings did the same.
Ms. Higurashi laughed. "Oh, no need to be formal. We're all friends here Redstone-san."
Rafe nodded and looked at Kagome's grandfather. "Higurashi-sensei, are you still running your shrine?"
The old man smiled. "Yes, I am. Kagome would help me, but she's busy a lot. Souta is to young and their mother works, but I am fine by myself."
"If you wish, Higurashi-sensei, I could help out while I am here," Clay volunteered. "I know that I'm not from the family, but maybe you could fine something for me to do."
Jii-chan smiled. "Thank you, Clay, I would appreciate that."
"Is dinner done yet?" Souta said, coming down with Raven behind him. "We're hungry."
"Yes, lets eat. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting. I'm sure you're starving from that flight." Higurashi-san lead them to their dinning table (a/n: don't know what you call it when its on the floor). Kagome and Kameko sat next to each other. They were planning on going to get something to strip the dye from Kameko's red streak. Clay sat next to Jii-chan to work out a schedule for the young man. Raven and Souta were engrossed in talking about some anime show. While Higurashi-san and Rafe went to get dinner from the kitchen.
"Do you have a fork, Higurashi-san?" asked Raven.
"Oh dear, I didn't think of that. Coming from American and all. Do you all need your utensils? I'm sure I could find some somewhere."
Rafe laughed. "We can use chopsticks. Raven, there's a fork in your suitcase. Go get it." The little girl ran off to get it.
"You still teaching and lecturing on mythology, Redstone-san?" Jii-chan asked after they started eating.
Rafe laughed. "Somewhat. I'm teaching history at the local high school now."
"Bah!" Jii-chan said. "You're too good for some lowly high school. You should be at a university. Come here to Japan. You speak the language well enough and could teach the youth something about the past."
"I haven't really been interested in teaching at a university since Ariadne . . ."
"Since mom died," Kameko said for him. He looked at his daughter, who just shrugged and ate some rice.
"Yes, since Ariadne died. We had planned on me getting into a university and her staying home. After she died I didn't feel the need to. I took the kids with me when I traveled, but found a permanent place when Raven started school."
The table was quiet, except for Kameko's chopstick clicking together as she put some chicken in her mouth.
"Oh my, gosh!" little Raven cried. The table seemed to jump all at once.
"What?" Souta asked and looked around the room.
"Look!" She said tugging on Souta's shirt and pointing at their sisters. The others look at the girls too.
"What? I don't see anything Raven-kun."
"Look at them!" Raven exclaimed. "They could be twins almost!"
The group looked at them a little hard.
"You're right!" Higurashi-san said. "Different coloring, but they could!"
They girls looked at each other and as one got up and ran upstairs to the bathroom.
"We do!" Kagome and Kameko said together.
"I wonder why we didn't notice this before?" Kameko asked.
"Maybe because you observant onee-chan wasn't old enough to notice before." Kagome replied, staring in the mirror at their obvious similarities.
Ironically, their hair was the same cut, style, and color. Kameko's skin was naturally tanned. Kagome's eyes were blue-grey, while Kameko's were green. They were the same height and appeared to be of the same weight.
"This is too weird," Kameko said touching her face.
"Hai. Way to weird," Kagome agreed. 'Even for me!'
A/N: Was it ok? For those that didn't catch it, Kameko's last name is Redstone. Her mother was Ariadne, who died, some time before Raven was five and started kindergarten. Her dad is a history buff and teaches at a high school. Anyone confused yet? Oh, did I mention that Kameko is the Mexican/Indian version of Kagome? Hehe! Don't worry, it'll all be worked out. Read and Review, please! Questions put them in the review or e-mail me at queenwierdness@verizon.net. Toodles!