Chapter Three: Mother Knows Best
Kagome huffed and growled as she climbed over the lip of the Bone Eater's Well, muttering less than complimentary things about a certain, "insufferable, suffocating, overbearing, ramen-for-brains" hanyou. She knew she shouldn't let him get to her like he did, but really, he deserved what he got when she sat him.
There were times when she was certain that Inuyasha cared for her. She was sure of it. However, there were days when she wondered if he even cared at all. "Shard detector" was what he'd called her on more than one occasion. Was that all he cared about? Was that all she was worth to him? It couldn't just be that, right? She sighed and entered her home. "I'm home. Again."
"Kagome!" her grandfather exclaimed. "Did you come back for the sacred scrolls I prepared for you? I noticed you left them behind!"
"No, Ojii-san, I just... forgot some things." Yeah, he'd buy that.
"Oh. Well, if you have room for them you should take them. You never know what kind of demon they might be useful against," he replied, sweeping a bit of dust towards the door to be swatted out into the sunshine later. "It's a dangerous time for young ladies, and I don't trust that demon friend of yours."
Kagome raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes at her grandfather. "Why not? He's done a pretty good job taking care of me so far!" Despite all the times that she and Inuyasha had argued, she still felt it was important for her family to remain blissfully unaware of the true amount of danger that she was constantly placed in. She didn't want them to seal the well or anything drastic like that.
The old man just muttered and shook his head, pushing past Kagome to open the door and continue his cleaning.
Kagome rolled her eyes again and made her way past the kitchen to the stairs, waving at her mother. "Ohayo, Okaa-san. I'm back for a while."
Her mother turned away from the cookies she was making to see her daughter headed towards the stairs. "Why hello dear. Is something wrong? You just left this morning."
"Er, no, I just forgot some stuff, is all. I'll be leaving again later." Probably when Inuyasha comes to drag me back again, she thought sourly.
Mrs. Higurashi blinked, not entirely sure she should believe Kagome. "All right. Will you be staying for dinner?" She could finish the cookies, she decided, and then go talk to her oldest when the girl had been given a chance to settle in again. It was unusual for Kagome to come back so unexpectedly unless something had happened in the feudal era.
Kagome thought about it for, oh, half a second, before nodding happily. "Sure! Will you make oden?" She didn't care if Inuyasha did come to "fetch" her, as it were. She would sit him a few times, and he'd probably sit and have dinner with them.
"Of course," her mother answered with a smile. "Now run along and put that pack of yours away. Your shoulders must be aching."
"You have no idea." Kagome smiled and walked up the stairs, already feeling calmer than before. She sat her pack on the floor in her room and flopped onto her bed, looking at the ceiling.
It didn't take long for the rest of the house to realize she was home. Only a few minutes passed before Souta came bounding in, Buyo cradled in his arms. "Sis! I thought you left! Where's Inuyasha? Wasn't he with you?"
"He's back in Sengoku Jidai, Souta. I came back to get some things that I forgot." She reminded herself to decide on an extra item to be shoved into her pack, in order to properly justify her return.
Her little brother's face fell, and he almost dropped the calico, who howled his protest before leaping to the safety of Kagome's bed. "Oh."
Kagome rolled her eyes again. "Oh come on, Souta! I know you like him and think he's cool, but you shouldn't be so disappointed every time he doesn't show up. He'll probably come later."
"Why don't you like him? You two fight all the time, but he seems really nice to me." Refusing to be deterred, Souta sat down on her bed next to Buyo, an expectant look on his face.
Kagome sat up and made a rather disgruntled face at her brother. "Souta! Even friends argue sometimes! It's really not a big deal."
"But you argue all the time," he pointed out.
Kagome frowned. She didn't have the heart to defame Inuyasha to her brother, who suffered from an obvious case of hero-worship. "Don't worry about it, okay? It really isn't a big deal. We don't argue as much in the Feudal Era. Coming here makes him cranky because of all of the air pollution and noise and stuff."
"Oh." Souta seemed to think about that, and then he grinned. "Okay!"
Kagome smiled and then grinned rather maliciously. "C'mere, you!" Without further warning, she grabbed her brother in a firm head-lock and gave him a noogie that he'd probably remember the rest of his life.
"AHH!!! Kagome!!! No fair!" He struggled in her grip, but it didn't take him long to get into the spirit of things and start tickling her in retaliation.
Kagome screeched and tickled her brother in all the spots she knew would render him defenseless. "Little brat! I am the tickle-master!"
Downstairs, Mrs. Higurashi had put her cookies in the oven and was wiping her hands dry on a kitchen towel. She could hear the shrieks and squeals of her children upstairs, and smiled to herself. It was good that they had each other. Kagome provided a good role model for her brother, while he kept her on her toes and cheered her up when she needed it.
Once their mother had decided that playtime had gone on long enough, she set the towel aside and headed upstairs, pausing just outside of Kagome's door to watch her children grappling with each other. She couldn't hide her amusement at the sight of them. When Kagome realized that they had an audience, she quickly pinned Souta and smiled victoriously up at her mother.
"Ahh!!!" Souta flailed and squirmed. "Make her get off!"
His mother just laughed. "You should know better than to get in a scuffle with your sister, Souta."
Kagome scrubbed Souta's hair once more before letting him up. "I'm still the champ!"
Still smiling, Mrs. Higurashi reached out and smoothed her son's hair. "Why don't you go call your grandfather inside? It'll be time for lunch soon, and I need to talk to your sister."
Souta nodded obediently and scampered out of the room, Buyo waddling after.
Kagome wondered briefly if she'd done something wrong and was going to get a stern talking to from her mother. She realized that she hadn't really been around enough to have done something that would deserve a scolding, so that couldn't be it. She smiled at her mother and scratched the back of her head. "What did you want to talk about?"
"We haven't really had a chance to talk for a long time, and I want to see how you're doing." Mrs. Higurashi's expression was gentle. Motherly concern filled her voice, but somehow managed to be unobtrusive at the same time.
"Oh. Well. We've gotten some new shards. We'll have the whole jewel in no time, if we keep going at this rate."
"And what about you and Inuyasha?"
Kagome shrugged nonchalantly. "What about us? There's not much to tell, really. We argue all the time over the stupidest things. It gets on my nerves sometimes."
"Is that why you're here now?"
The younger Higurashi's shoulders slumped slightly. "Yeah, we had an argument this morning. We hadn't even left the Well when he started it."
Concerned, her mother moved to sit down beside Kagome on the bed. "What was it about?"
Kagome waved her hand and shrugged. "It's ridiculous, Okaa-san. He was upset because, of all things, Hojo-kun came to visit me."
At that, her mother laughed a little. "He's jealous."
"What? You've gotta be kidding me. He just thinks that every nanosecond I don't spend in Sengoku Jidai is a huge waste of his time."
Mrs. Higurashi smiled knowingly and patted her daughter on the knee. "You can tell yourself that if you want to, dear, but he cares about you."
Kagome crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah right. I'm just a shard detector. He'll probably be glad to get rid of me once this is all over with."
"Don't be so sure."
"What do you mean?" Kagome's eyes narrowed suspiciously. How much was her mother going to try and psychoanalyze her over this?
"You'll understand someday." Mrs. Higurashi stood and headed for the door. "Would you like to come help me set lunch out?"
"Sure!" Kagome jumped up from her bed and went to help her mother set the table. This was her family and her "normal" life. Why was she beginning to feel like it wasn't really her home anymore?
Kagome's discomfort didn't go unnoticed by her mother, but Mrs. Higurashi could see it for what it was. Her daughter was growing up, and whether she realized it or not, she was making a home for herself in the Sengoku Jidai. Mrs. Higurashi knew that the work Kagome did there was important, but she also knew it was dangerous. She prayed that Inuyasha would keep her daughter safe, and then returned her concentration to the lunchtime routine.
Author's note: These first few chapters are pretty short, but they'll get longer. We promise.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to review. We really appreciate it. We're an English undergrad and alum, so when we hear that our work is enjoyable, it really makes us feel warm and fuzzy. Kagome's treatment of Inuyasha has been mentioned, and this is how we feel about it.
We agree that Kagome occasionally abuses the subduing spell, but on the other hand, we believe that Inuyasha hasn't done much to discourage her from using it. We all get a little emotional sometimes, and Sit is Kagome's way of getting even with a rock-headed hanyou who's physically stronger and listening-impaired. And, he does deserve a lot of what he gets. Not all, but a lot. Their treatment of each other balances out later on during the plot.
Also, for some reason, while we were able to indent the paragraphs in the previous chapters, it doesn't seem to be working now. We'll figure out a way to fix this later.