Title: Family Problems
Chapter: 1

Questions: This is the section where I answer questions people asked, or address subjects they may have commented on.

Will there be more?
Err...There was a reason that the last chapter said "prologue"

Why Kurama and not Kuwabara?
For the sake of the story in my head. If I ever decide to do another cousin story, I will have Kuwabara be her cousin.

Will one of the Spirit Detectives look for Inuyasha?
They don't know who he is. At least, they don't know who he is in relation to Kagome yet. But, they do have a hand in him coming to Kagome.

Warning: If you don't like the customary pairings of the shows breaking up, don't read this chapter. Or, basically, the story.

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Chapter 1 - Girl Time

At first glance, the small gathering looked like a normal teenage girl gathering. At second glance, there might be some odd looks at the blue and green haired girls. It wasn't until you looked at their faces that you might have seen something wrong. Or listened to how they snickered at the monster movie. "Puh-lease! Like a few flames would take down a monster made of water! A lot maybe, but just one flame? It wouldn't happen! Do you see a lake evaporating because someone starts a fire nearby? No!"

Botan and Yukina giggles at their friends' enthusiasm. "It is a bit amusing. Ice actually would do better. Freeze it, ya know?" Botan commented. Kagome grinned and nodded towards Yukina.

"So, you'd be perfect to take down something like that. Like any of the weapons they're using would work. For crying out loud! A silver bullet is a werewolf thing! I-" Kagome found herself muffled as Botan and Yukina pounced on her, trying to muffle their giggles so as not to disturb Genkai.

"Kagome, it is a good thing there are no other people around here, otherwise everyone would know about your views on these movies. Besides, these people don't know anything about the reality of monsters and demons. Calm down," Botan said with a grin. Kagome rolled her eyes and flopped down between the two girls again. Yukina's innocent crimson eyes focused on her.

"If you do not like them, why did you pick one?" She asked curiously.

"I used to think they were scary. I haven't watched one since before I went through the well. I wanted to know my response now. Now they seem annoying. And amusing." Kagome grinned at Yukina, who smiled back, then tilted her head to look at some of the other movies the girl had brought over.

"Can we watch another one then? This one is an unflattering view of how human society perceives demons." Both girls were about to speak up and say that it was just a movie, then both shrugged. Most monster movies could eventually be traced back to a myth based on demons at some point or another, if not directly, through a long line of other movies.

"Sure, why don't you look through them and pick one you want to watch Yukina? After that if we have time, Botan can pick one. We can rotate like that," Kagome said while looking at Botan for her opinion. The spirit guide nodded and peered over Kagome to watch Yukina pick out a movie.

"What's this one?" Yukina asked.

"That one's drama, romance, with enough action mixed in so it isn't all about the characters love lives," Kagome stated, schooling her face to look neutral. She didn't want to sway her friend either way. Yukina decided on that movie and they went along to watch it, and then Botan's movie, which was all about romance and drama, almost no action at all. In the end they were crying at that one.

"If she'd just left with him," Kagome sniffled out.

"She couldn't! She loved her home to much!" Botan said with her own sniffle.

"That was beautiful. Can we watch more like those?" Yukina asked wistfully. "These are the first movies I've seen, and I liked that one more than the other two."

Botan and Kagome exchanged a grin, tears forgotten. This was one thing they could agree to. All for the good of their friend of course.

"Sure!" Botan said brightly, then noticed Kagome grimacing at her watch. "Time for you to go?"

"Yeah, but we can watch more later. Maybe tomorrow. Shippo's usually out all day, mother knows I'm having fun, and Souta has his own life. Grandpa deals with the shrine, so he doesn't have time to deal with my 'teenage rebellion'. Which means he won't keep bugging me about where I am. I wouldn't be surprised if Shippo at least knows I'm with you two. He has a good nose after all." Kagome gathered up her things, leaving a couple of the movies that were like the one Yukina had expressed interest in.

"You can watch those and when I come over next tell me if you really want to watch more. I'll bring a lot just in case." Then the teenager was out the door and down the street, her two friends waving goodbye as Genkai came out and looked after her with a sigh.

"She still has a destiny to face girls. If you keep being her friends, you will be involved with it also," Genkai said gravely.

"We know. I'm willing to risk it. Kagome's my friend, and if trouble hits her, I'll stand by her side," Botan declared proudly. And loudly. Yukina simply smiled in agreement and said, "Me too."

"Good. She will need all the support she can get," Genkai said firmly. The two girls looked at her, alarm apparent in their eyes.

"Master Genkai, what do you know?" Yukina asked softly.

"I know nothing. I have hunches, and I suspect much. The Makai is stirring, and she cannot hope to keep out of it, not with what and who she is." The two girls exchanged glances and Botan squared her shoulders.

"Then I'll have to get information about that, won't I?" Botan grinned at Yukina's startled look. Genkai's gaze was faintly approving before she began to leave.

"The boys will probably be here soon to discuss a new mission. It is a good and neutral meeting place. Be sure to clean up any sign of Kagome, and attempt to cover her scent. Kurama will be curious if you don't, and you wouldn't want to ruin your 'girl time'." With that last warning, Genkai went back inside to do her usual things.

The two girls exchanged glances and then Botan went crazy, frantically hiding everything, trying to think of a way to hide Kagome's scent. If Kurama knew she was here all the time, he, and then the other boys, would invite themselves along. This was time for just the three of them. Finally Yukina came in with a solution. She left a bottle of nail polish remover on a cabinet near the door to the room they'd been in, opened it, and both the girls left, hoping that Kagome hadn't left her scent everywhere else. Yukina was glad to help even if she didn't quite understand the logic behind it.

"Hey, Botan, what are you doing here? Koenma said he couldn't get hold of you." Yusuke looked at her suspiciously when she and Yukina exchanged a glance and he was sure they both quickly look at Kurama before focusing on him.

"Botan was helping me with something," Yukina said in her soft voice. Technically it was true. With her new friends about, Yukina was learning that a simple explanation was best. She didn't need to say that anybody else had been helping her, or what it was they were helping her with.

"Oh. Right. Still, why couldn't Koenma get hold of you?" Yusuke asked suspiciously. Botan looked guilty. She hadn't meant to turn her communicator off, it had just happened. She didn't think they'd buy that.

"Oh, lay off her Yusuke. Isn't there a mission you're supposed to be telling everyone about?" Keiko said as she pushed her way past the four males in the doorway to stand by Yukina and Botan.

"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with you, Keiko," Yusuke grumbled under his breath. At her glare the boy sighed and began to talk, telling them of the new mission. At the end he remembered to add something.

"Oh yeah, Koenma also said we're going to escort these strange old people to the shrine later," Yusuke said as he and the boys walked away to go on their mission.

"Oh? Who are they?" Keiko asked curiously.

"I don't know. One's a hanyou named Inuyasha I think. Odd name. They're over 500 years old. Koenma didn't give any reason either, just said escort them here after the mission." Yusuke didn't notice Botan and Yukina suck in a breath and exchange worried glances as Botan left to follow the boys.

He did notice Keiko's frown however. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing, the name just sounds so familiar. I can't imagine where I'd have heard it before though," Keiko frowned, searching her memory and Botan bit her lip, glancing at Kurama, trying to think up an answer. Kurama was protective of his cousin, even if they had just met for the first time in almost ten years a couple of months ago. Surprisingly, it was Kurama who offered a solution.

"There are many legends around the name Inuyasha. Whether this is he or now, I don't know, but the stories have leaked out to the human population as myths. Perhaps you heard one of these once," Kurama suggested. Keiko fixed him with a brilliant smile and a happy nod.

"Thanks Kurama! I'm sure that's what it is!" Their eyes held a bit longer than necessary and Keiko almost wanted to stand still and be lost in them for a moment, but they forced their gazes away, wondering what had come over them. Keiko wondered anyway, Kurama just grimaced at his hopeless situation while Yusuke convinced himself he was just being overly jealous and seeing things that weren't there. Like he had any reason to get mad at them for an imagine look when he still thought about Kurama's cousin in a way that would have them both throwing fits.

The other two boys didn't seem to notice, but Botan had been paying particular attention, and she had to wonder what was happening between them. They were both too loyal to Yusuke to do anything about it, but she could have sworn that had been a spark of attraction for each other. While Keiko wasn't Yusuke's official girlfriend, everyone knew there was something there.

They had been friends forever. Briefly Botan wondered if perhaps that's all it was, and they fooled each other and themselves into thinking it was more because they wanted something stable. They seemed too right for that however. It was just...the look in Kurama's eyes when he had looked at Keiko made her doubt what she had always accepted about her friends.

At another shrine, a very happy barely sixteen-year-old girl was humming as she walked into her house. She was met with the inquisitive eyebrow of Shippo. "And you have been where exactly?"

Kagome squirmed under his gaze then stopped herself. She met his eyes firmly, with all of her self-respect gathered into her eyes. "Hanging out with some friends. Problem?"

Shippo seemed surprised, but then he took a sniff of the air and grinned knowingly. "These wouldn't happen to be two certain girls, one demon, one a spirit guide, would they?"

Kagome scoffed haughtily. "I have no idea where you hear these things Shippo." Then she grinned. "Yeah, we're having some girl time. I thought you would have known already, what with your sense of smell and everything."

"I guessed Mama, but I wasn't quite sure. It's good though, for you to be having friends. Even if they do have lives as weird as you do," Shippo teased lightly.

"I'm going back tomorrow too. Don't come with me. If you have to watch me when I go, do it from afar, so I can't sense you. I want to at least feel like this is just a thing between my two friends and me. " Kagome said firmly. Shippo snickered at her but quickly got serious when her eyes blazed. This was important to her, and he would treat it as so.

"All right, Mama. I'll only check up on you once in awhile, now that I know where you are. Even then I promise to stay as far as possible away from where you are but where I can still make sure you're safe. It's the best I can do; I won't just leave you unprotected all the time. Not with that," he indicated the jewel around her neck, "still around."

Kagome sighed and fingered the jewel, feeling its smooth surface beneath her hand. "I wish...no, never mind, I don't. I treasure those memories, even the pain that comes along with them. And I'll never wish they didn't happen. That was a wonderful year. Well, almost a year. I don't see how so much could happen and it not even be a year. It seems unreal."

"It does," Shippo said softly. The two stood there for some time, considering what she'd said. Kagome suddenly couldn't wait until tomorrow, when she would get out of this depressing mood once again.

The next day, when Kagome went to Genkai's home, the girls seemed nervous about something. Still, she didn't pay much attention to it and they watched movies for hours. Soon Botan seemed to become relaxed, and Yukina had long ago become entranced by the people in the screen with their dramatic lives. A lot of them ended with tragedy, and the girls were using up tissues at an amazing rate.

It was only when they realized they would soon run out of tissues that they ended their tear-filled marathon and retired to an outer room to eat. They were laughing and just finishing up their sandwiches when Botan and Kagome stiffened. Kagome's eyes were wide and puzzled. The boys were coming with Keiko, but there was something else, two new auras that seemed so familiar. "I guess I'd better go," Kagome whispered.

Outside, Kurama suddenly jerked his head up as Botan opened the door and quickly closed it, smiling weakly as she walked towards the boys. His emerald gaze focused on Botan with sudden intensity. "Kagome's here. I can smell her. Why is she here Botan? She's not a spirit detective."

Botan bit her lip and frantically tried to think of an explanation. Before she could, her mouth moved on its own accord. "You must be smelling things Kurama. Why would she be here?"

Kurama growled and all four boys and Keiko, with their now suddenly interested guests hanging about by the trees walked towards the entrance. Botan hoped Kagome was out of there by now, and Yukina had done something about the smell. Kurama was too over protective of her to just let her come here with only them for protection. He would insist that at least he, and sometimes the other boys, join them.

When, they opened the door, no one was there, and Kurama gagged at the smell of nail polish remover. It didn't fool him, but he couldn't prove anything. Unfortunately, the harsh and furious scream from Kagome gave it away. Botan looked around frantically and noticed Yusuke hadn't followed them to the door. He must have seen her through a window and jumped over. Botan ground her teeth but forced a cheery smile on and followed the boys to the other side of the building, where on the other side an interesting scene greeted them.

Kagome was struggling her hardest, but Yusuke was holding her flush against him, her back to his front. She wasn't sure why she didn't just stand still and yell like she usually did, but she had a feeling that it had to do with that she was panicking. The last time someone had held her this way, good things had not followed. She attempted to calm herself down as the others came out a back door. It worked slightly, as she did manage to calm herself down to only pulling against his arms a few seconds after they arrive instead of the thrashing they had arrived to, but she knew her eyes were a bit wild still. She wouldn't doubt she was glowing.

"Yusuke, maybe you should let her go. She doesn't look so good," Keiko suggested softly, wondering what was wrong with the girl who had seemed so nice at the Dark Tournament. Yukina cleared her throat when Yusuke just glared at them and asked in a much firmer voice that sounded more like a command than a question, "She does not appear to be in the best stage of mind, won't you please let her go?"

Only the please made it a question, and when Yusuke still seemed unlikely to let her go, Botan reached out and whacked him on the head with her oar, forcing him to raise one arm to block it. That was all that Kagome needed and she suddenly twisted out of his grasp, going to stand against the wall of the shrine, shaking slightly as she closed her eyes and attempted to get a hold of herself.

What was wrong with her? It wasn't the first time someone had grabbed her, even if only Shippo had dared to do something like that lately. And only once, when he'd been worried about her. She hadn't responded like that, and she wasn't sure why. As her head cleared, she was getting a solution to that problem. She hadn't seen anyone else who had grabbed her quite like that. They were all family, or close to it. Yusuke was a male, little more than a stranger, and she found herself attracted to him. She understood her response now. But that meant she wasn't dealing with everything that had happened, especially the stuff with Naraku, well at all.

"Why do I have a feeling that last scene where she sort of glossed over things with what happened with Naraku in her story had a few more details?" Botan grumbled unhappily to Yukina as the miko whispered the evil hanyou's name with fear and disgust.

"What do you mean Botan?" Yukina asked curiously. Botan gave the ice apparition a weak smile, then went over to their friend who had finally stopped glowing. She was met by Kurama.

"Somebody explain to me what just happened, why she's here, and who Naraku is," Kurama demanded.

"Naraku was our opposite, I and the rest of the group. He wanted, and had most of, the Shikon no Tama. He was evil, and it took a combined version of my purifying arrows and Inuyasha's..." Kagome broke off suddenly and her eyes flew open in horror.

"That's Inuyasha's energy signature," Kagome whispered. Then she was running in all out panic, forgetting that at least three, and probably all of the boys here could outrun her and catch up with her in a second. Everyone was too shocked by her reaction, and it was surprisingly Yusuke who moved to catch her. It took a bit more effort to catch the desperate miko this time. After all, she wasn't just imagining things this time, and made no effort to stop herself from panicking this time.

"I forgot," Botan whispered to herself, wincing as Kagome was pinned to the ground and Yusuke turned her over to face him. Soon both of them were glaring furiously and shouting.

"Get the hell off of me!" Kagome yelled, sapphire blue eyes practically on fire as she squirmed beneath him, her miko powers flashing wildly, forcing everyone else away except Kuwabara, who wasn't about to go after the crazy girl by himself.

"No fucking way until you calm down! Inuyasha being here has nothing to do with you. We didn't even know you knew him until moments ago." Yusuke watched her squirm, though she was calming down slightly. Stupid girl, she was so unpredictable! He'd met her twice and she was so infuriating. At least she was calming down. Now that the sight of her squirming wasn't enjoyable, but she would have hurt herself eventually.

"Right, ok, that's great. Get off me and let me go home." Kagome demanded. Yusuke stared at her a moment then smirked, his eyes taking on a much darker look. "No."

"What? Why?"

"Because you'll never tell the story if you don't tell it to us now," Yusuke said, aware that Kurama could hear him and sensing the kitsune agreed with him, even if not his methods. Her energy which had been drawing back flowed out again as she let her anger reign.

"Get off!" She screamed at him.

"Make me," he said calmly. She instantly stilled and looked at him thoughtfully. Then her face schooled into a grin.

"All right," was all she said. Then she was kissing him. He would have gaped at her if he'd been thinking. If he'd been thinking, he would have done anything except what he did. He loosened his grip, beginning to move his hands. He realized to late what she was doing as he found himself suddenly on his back and her attempting to break the kiss. In the back of his mind he heard Keiko gasping as he decided to disallow it. She knew before he did what he was going to do.

One hand, which had drifted to her arm, tightened and his other hand went to the back of neck, pressing her lips firmly back onto his. Strangely, Kagome actually gave into the kiss. It wasn't until a growling Kurama pulled Kagome off of Yusuke that they seemed to wake up. Yusuke began swearing. Kagome was staring at her feet. Kurama watched them intently for a moment before going off after the sobbing Keiko who had left moments after Kurama had started moving towards them. The instant Yusuke had pulled Kagome back towards him; her miko powers had retracted though neither had noticed.

Kagome was left in the middle of a group of shocked teenage boys and immortal girls as Yusuke went running after Kurama. And Keiko of course. It had all been a mistake, she knew. After all, he was a teenage boy, and that should so not have popped into her mind as a way to get away.

"Did you have fun, Kagome?" Kagome's eyes widened as the hanyou she had forgotten after she had begun to kiss him appeared out from the trees. His eyes were as golden as she remembered, his hair just as silver. Kagome's heart seemed to stop in her chest, and as Inuyasha had been hopelessly drawn to the soulless Kikyou, as Kouga had been drawn to her and Sango to the seemingly hopeless Miroku, so she looked into the inu hanyou's eyes and lost all sense of self.

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