1Kagome returns ch 24

Authors' note: a humorous chapter to show how they'll work together, rather than a combat chapter.

'Hmmm.' Sesshomaru thinks. 'The exact details about who, what, and how to change the world will be interesting to determine.'

She turns to Inu-yasha.

Inu-yasha smirks. "Change the world, hmmm. Good. After Naraku, I need a challenge."

Kagome's lips twitch into a smile. "Of course, Inu-yasha."

a pause . . .

"Well," Kagome's mother says, "It sounds like there are a lot of things to do." She flicks her eyes at a window and notes the low hanging sun. "But, first, we'll eat."

"Yeah! I am hungry!" Shippo says from between Kagome's three girl friends. There is a general low voiced agreement from everyone else.

Mrs. H rubs her chin, as she considers the logistics of the meal, "In honor of Kagome's announcements, I should prepare a special meal."

"Mother. There is no need. Besides, that would take a while, and I think, at least, some people would like to eat sooner than that." Kagome mentions.

"Are you sure?" Kagome's mother asks as she looks around the room. Nobody contradicts Kagome. "OK. Then, in honor of our family members from the past, some modern foods are in order."

'Especially since they may not be able to sample it for long.' she thinks.

"Any suggestions?" she asks.

While Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Rin and Sesshomaru look on with various expressions of surprise, delight and horror, Kagome's three girl friends, Sota, Kagome and Kagome's mother have a short, but intense discussion about various foods.

Pizza, by the way, finally, wins. (So many toppings . . . so everyone can be satisfied.) Ayumi, Eri and Yuka do want to treat Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Rin special, so . . .

Thirty minutes later . . .

"What is that smell?" Inu-yasha asks, as he crinkles his nose.

The doorbell rings.

"That's probably the pizza's!" Ayumi exclaims.

Mrs. H opens the door. It is the pizza boy. While she is paying him, including a generous tip for walking up all those steps, with all these pizza's, the girls take the pizza's and bring them into the kitchen.

"What is that smell?" Shippo asks. 'Some of it is meat. I can tell that. But what sort? And part of the other smells? I have no idea?' he thinks.

"Ah!" Eri says, "This is yours, Kagome."

She hands Kagome her pizza topped with shredded pork, shemji mushrooms, bamboo shoots, seaweed, shiso leaves. Kagome smiles, "My favorite!"

"Here's yours, Sango!" Ayumi calls.

"I remembered that you liked chicken, Sango." Kagome says as she starts to eat her pizza. "So, I made sure that it was added."

Sango cautiously opens up her box. "I am supposed to eat this?" she asks as she looks at Kagome. Kagome picks up a piece and takes a bite, to show Sango (and the others) how to eat pizza.

Sango picks up a piece and takes bite. She smiles, as she likes the Teriyaki chicken, fresh mayonnaise, shredded seaweed, fresh mushroom, sweet corn, onion, and parsley topping.

"Here's yours, Miroku!" Eri calls out.

"Miroku, I know that in the field, we have to eat meat on occasion, but, there isn't any in your pizza." Kagome mentions.

Miroku smiles as he accepts the pizza. He thinks, 'She did remember. I've had to purify myself many, many times during our adventures. As a monk, I should not eat the flesh of animals, but, sometimes, all we have is rabbit stew.'

His pizza toppings, by the way, are green asparagus, broccoli, tomato, mushrooms, corn, red & green pepper, onions and extra cheese.

After a bite, he nods to Kagome's girls friends. "A very nice dish, my complements for suggesting this dish."

"Thank you." They chorus back.

"What is causing that smell?" Inu-yasha growls as he, fed up with waiting and being polite grabs one of the pizzas at the bottom of the stack. Only some very quick reflexes by Yuka, Eri and Ayumi prevent some of the pizzas from falling to the floor.

Inu-yasha opens up the box. He coughs, as he looks at the pizza. The black sauce, not the red one that all the others have, catches his attention first. Then, the smell. The odor of the kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage) is what he is smelling, and the pizza has eel, roe, jalapenos and fish flakes.

"Eat it!" Ayumi smiles. "It's good!"

"Yeah!" Yuka adds.

"I don't know." Inu-yasha mumbles.

"You've always said you've got an iron stomach." Shippo adds.

"Oh, that one." Kagome says. "Once, when I went out with Hojo, I tried that one on him, but, he declined to eat it."

'The first good thing that I've heard about him.' Inu-yasha thinks.

"Scared?" Sesshomaru says slyly. "It's only food."

Inu-yasha growls at Sesshomaru. He picks up a slice and shoves it into his mouth, crumbling it to fit into his mouth, his checks puffing out like a squirrel. His jaws work and he swallows. He says, "Let's see you eat it, Sesshomaru."

He smiles. His black teeth gleam in the light.

He totally forgot the instead of tomato sauce, this pizza had black squid-ink sauce . . .

Shippo begins to laugh at him.

The girls giggle.

"What?" Inu-yasha demands.

"Your teeth are black." Rin states, as she hides behind Sesshomaru.

"Black?" Inu-yasha opens his mouth and rubs his teeth. His fingers have a black stain on them. "Shit! Fuck!"

"Hey!" Sota yells, "That's my pizza! It's good!"

"Yours!?" Inu-yasha yells at him.

"Yeah!" Sota yells, as he stalks up to the table to get his pizza. "I didn't say anything, because I thought that you'd like it." He sniffles at the end of his sentence.

Inu-yasha blinks. He opens his mouth. 'What do I do?' he thinks. His eyes flick to Kagome. She gives him a Mona Lisa grin, and shrugs. 'No help there.'

"Ah," Inu-yasha intelligently says.

In a very low voice, so only inu-yasha and maybe Shippo can hear him, Sesshomaru says, "I did like it, it surprised me it was so good."

Inu-yasha shots' Sesshomaru a dirty look, then says, "I did like it, Sota, it just surprised me, it was so good."

"YEAH!" Sota yells as he jumps Inu-yasha and hugs him.

Inu-yasha looks over at Sesshomaru and smiles. "IT is good." He reaches over Sota and grabs a piece and points it at Sesshomaru. "You try it."

Everyone looks at Sesshomaru. He looks around the room. 'There is no way out of this with dignity, so.' he thinks.

He walks over to Inu-yasha, takes the piece of pizza and carefully eats it. After each bite, he does make sure that his tongue cleans his teeth before he opens his mouth.

"A very different meal." Sesshomaru states, as he nods, politely to Sota.

"Cool!" Sota coos.

While this has been happening, Kagome has been going through the pizza boxes.

"Inu-yasha and Sesshomaru." She calls, holding two boxes. "These are yours. They are the same. I saw no reason to start an argument."

Both boys grab their boxes and open them. They both smile. The odors of meat have been tickling their noses.

The odors of cubed beef, pepperoni, bacon, chicken, shredded pork, garlic, special steak sauce, red and green pepper, and jalapenos are why.

Sesshomaru, since Inu-yasha has to detach Sota from him, starts to eat first. However . . . the first bite included a whole jalapeno pepper . . .

Using his speed, he finds and drinks a can of coke, before most people can see him. Although the empty, crushed can tell Kagome why he used that speed.

"Spicy?" She asks with a smile.

"May I ask, why did you include that topping?" Sesshomaru asks.

Kagome shrugs. "The spice of life." She thinks.

"I notice that yours does not include it." He remarks.

She nods. "I didn't feel like it, tonight."

Inu-yasha takes a more cautious bite of his pizza. As he does, Eri hands him a can of coke. He gladly drinks the coke.

"What about me?" Shippo asks.

"Here it is, Shippo." Ayumi says, as Eri and Yuka nods. "WE asked for this one special for you."

Shippo opens his pizza box. "Give some of that to Rin." Kagome adds in, as he grabs a piece.

"Do I have to?" He whines.

"Yes." She replies. "Rin, you can go ahead and have some."

Rin grabs a piece.

Shippo takes a bite. He smiles.

Rin takes a bite. She smiles.

They both think, 'I've never had something like this!'

They both polish off the pizza faster than Inu-yasha finishes his. The toppings? Shrimp, squid, octopus, clam, scallops, smoked salmon, tuna, onions, green peppers, tomato.

Within a few minutes as everyone grabs their pizza's and eats, the room buzzes with conversations between everyone else. The mood of the room quickly becomes very relaxed, and almost everyone is enjoying themselves.

But.

Sesshomaru quietly, and silently leaves, after finishing his pizza.

Kagome thinks, 'he's still not comfortable around crowds, especially when we're having fun.'

"Kagome?" Mrs. H whispers, nodding her head in Sesshomaru's direction.

"As the lord of the western lands, he shouldn't be hanging out and having fun." Kagome replies. She sighs.

"Stuck up, asshole." Inu-yasha mutters.

Kagome shakes her head. "No, Inu-yasha, he's not. I don't think that he'll ever be very comfortable just hanging out and having fun. It's beneath his dignity."

"Same thing I said before." Inu-yasha mutters.

Kagome sighs. She puts down her pizza. "I'll be back in a minute." She says as she leaves the room.

Inu-yasha starts to follow her, but Mrs. H puts a hand on his arm and shakes her head. He grunts, but sits down.

Outside . . .

"Sesshomaru?"

"That was not dignified." Sesshomaru's voice sounds from the shadows around the god tree.

"I know." She says as she walks over to him. "Sometimes I won't be. And sometimes my friends won't be, either."

"Are you going to force me back?"

She shakes her head. "No. Sesshomaru, my consort, I'm not." She places her hand on his arm. "Oh, I could force you. But, you'd dislike it, and I don't like that."

A pause. He nods. "I think I will stay out here. Those idiots from the airport might show up."

She nods. "So, they might."

A pause.

"Are you sure that you're fine about Inu-yasha and I going away for a month?" She whispers.

"In a perfect world, no. but the world isn't perfect. And, there are other things that I must do."

"Your mother."

He nods.

"Unless something comes up, once we return, then we'll take care of her."

"You probably need to return. I can hear Shippo whining under his breath waiting for you."

Kagome sighs. "Shippo. He's going to try to ambush me, to get me to change my mind about this."

"Will he?" Sesshomaru asks. "You are, in my opinion, very gentle with him."

"Too gentle?" Kagome's lips jerk into a smile. "Perhaps. But, I'd rather be too gentle than too harsh."

"A pattern of behavior that I've noticed." Sesshomaru says in a dry voice.

Kagome squeezes his arm and hugs him. "Please, be happy. Concentrate on the good times, not the bad."

"I'll be happy." He replies as she stops hugging him. She flashes him a smile and enters the house.

Inside . . .

"Kagome!" Shippo calls as he jumps into her arms.

"Shippo." Kagome smiles as she hugs him.

"Kagome." Shippo begins to say in a very whining voice.

"Stop." Kagome says.

"But."

"Shippo." Kagome sighs. She hugs him close, rubbing her check against his. "I love you, always. But. There will be times that I can not be with you."

"Why?" he whines.

"Because I also love Inu-yasha and Sesshomaru. And I, also, need to spend time with them."

"And I get screwed."

Kagome's eyebrows rise at that statement. "No." She sighs. "Shippo," She whispers, "I'll tell you a secret."

She pauses, enhancing the suspense, "I don't like being away from you. I don't like being away from Inu-yasha. I don't like being away from Sesshomaru. I don't like being away from Sango and Miroku, or my mother, or Sota, but, there is times when I have to be."

"I don't like it either."

She rubs his head, playing with his ears. "I know. And, when I get back, I'll try to make it up to you."

"How?"

"I don't know, not just yet." Kagome's eyes narrow. "But, I will find something. Ok?"

"I don't like it."

Kagome sighs, "While, I would like you to like this, I'm not asking for you to like it, Shippo. Do you understand why I'm doing this?"

A pause.

"Shippo, do you understand why I'm doing this?"

"Yes."

Kagome kisses Shippo on the tip of his nose. "Good. Now. Do you hate me, for doing this?"

"Huh?" total surprise is in Shippo's voice. "No."

"Shippo, I know that you need a parent. And I'll try to be the best one that I can be. But, are you going to be a possessive jerk, like Inu-yasha can be?"

"I'm not inu-yasha!" Shippo replies hotly.

"But, you are being a spoiled child." Kagome smiles. "Which is my fault, of course, and, once I return, I will try to be a better parent." She pauses, "SO, think about this Shippo, if you are a spoiled child, I'll have to change how I treat you. If you are not a spoiled child, I don't. Right?"

"Yes."

"So, am I going to have to change how I treat you?"

A pause. Shippo, finally, shakes his head, no.

"Good, then you will not be spoiled, and you'll understand and accept my decision to spend some time with my husband to be."

Shippo takes a deep breath, then he nods, yes.

Kagome kisses him again. "Thank you, Shippo. I do love you." She hugs him close.

"Ahmmm." Inu-yasha clears his throat, as he stands next to them.

"Inu-yasha." Kagome says in a stern tone. "Please, don't sneak up on me like that."

"You, Shippo, Sesshomaru and I need to talk." Inu-yasha says as he pulls out a couple of pieces of paper.

Kagome looks at the paper. "About what?"

"The three of us got to talking and we came up with a plan." Inu-yasha waves the papers off to one side.

"A plan about?"

"About how we'll share you?" Shippo says.

"I seeeee." Kagome hisses. Her eyes narrow. She spins and stomps to Sesshomaru, with Shippo still in her arms. Inu-yasha follows her.

"You heard?" She asks Sesshomaru.

He nods.

Inu-yasha folds open the papers and begin to speak, "Ok, Kagome, here is." He stops speaking . . . he has to Kagome has grabbed the paper and taken it from him.

"You three wrote this down earlier, right?" Kagome says she begins to read the paper. She placed Shippo down as she grabbed the paper.

"I wrote it down." Sesshomaru says.

"Yeah. After we talked about how we're going to share you." Shippo pipes in.

"Yeah. This how we will do it." Inu-yasha says, emphasizing the word 'will'.

"It is a fair plan." Sesshomaru remarks. "Obviously, since you haven't seen it, there will need to be some changes, but it should give us a starting point."

Kagome thinks, 'they created this in that short of time? Typical boy planning. It reads like the baseball rule book. Time for 'special' moments for inu-yasha and Sesshomaru. Time for 'fun' moments for shippo. Differing amount time for different types of 'special' moments.'

A growl begins to grow deep in her throat.

Inu-yasha, Sesshomaru and Shippo exchange glances and exchange a single thought. 'I think we just screwed up . . . badly . . . '

Kagome, slowly and deliberately, begins to rip the paper into little, itty-bitty pieces. As she is doing this, her eyes lock into each boys eyes.

She stares down Shippo.

She stares down Inu-yasha.

She stares down Sesshomaru.

As she throws the pieces of paper into the air, she declares in a tense hard voice. "We are a family. The love within a family can not and will not be limited. My time to spend with each of you, is, unfortunately limited, my love for you is not."

She pauses, gathering her thoughts. None of the boys do anything more than breath.

"I will spend as much time, as I can with each of you. I will, to the best of my ability, treat you all equally. Just as I love you three equally."

She growls. "Do you three understand that?"

They nod, still speechless.

"My love is not limited to any specific plan. My love is not limited to any specific timetable."

She pauses.

"Do any of you wish to say anything?"

The three boys look at each other, and then at Kagome.

Shippo shakes his head. He slumps and starts to slinky off.

"Shippo." Kagome says in a light voice. "Please come here."

Shippo turns. Kagome is kneeling down, her arms wide. "Please." Kagome begs.

Shippo slowly walks into her arms. "I'm not mad at you." Kagome hugs him and stands up.

Her eyes catch Inu-yasha's and Sesshomaru's. "I am not mad at any of you. But, we are a family. And families don't need a timetable. We will here for each other. We will love each other. And no plan, no timetable is needed for that."

Kagome's mouth twitches into a smile. "Now, does anyone have anything to say?"

Sesshomaru's mouth twitches. He nods. "I love you, Kagome." He says. "With all that it means." He bends over and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "I will remain outside, on guard."

Kagome turns to Inu-yasha.

Inu-yasha's ears twitch. His mouth twitches. "Why didn't you like it?"

Kagome's eyes roll up. "Because, Inu-yasha, no plan like that is going to work. Sooner or later, something would happen, and I'd have to ignore that plan. And then, you or Sesshomaru, or Shippo would get mad, because I'm ignoring that plan. I'm not going to have that happen. So, no plan. We will live together. The harmony between us might change from day to day, but we will live together."

Inu-yasha sighs. He nods. He spins to walk away. He stops. He spins back around.

He walks over to Kagome and kisses her on the cheek, right where Sesshomaru kissed. "I love you."

Kagome purrs as she says, "Tonight. You sleep in my room."

Inu-yasha smiles, spins and walks away.

Kagome looks at Shippo. "You?" she asks.

Shippo sighs. "Where do I sleep?"

"With my mother or Sota, I think. What about we go inside and find out?" Kagome smiles.

Shippo smiles, faintly.

They enter the house.

Some of the toppings, not every pizza had the same mix, BTW, include: Corn (very popular, by the way), potato, egg, squid ink sauce. And for Miroku, as a Buddhist monk he should be a vegetarian, so . . . green asparagus, a broccoli, tomato, mushrooms, corn, red pepper, green pepper, onions, extra cheese . . .

a link for pizza lovers . . .

chachich. com/ mdchachi/ pizza. html

The end of this chapter.

Thank you for reading

jeff shelton