The Club

Christielea54

Chapter Fifteen

"Father's name?"

"Taisho."

"Mother's name?"

"Aikyo."

"Mother's maiden name?"

"I dunno."

Hojo's cheery smile faltered a bit. He was loosing patience with this Inuyasha character. How was he supposed to work with this? He was a genius with his father's medical records, but not a miracle worker! "Hmm. Maybe I can find it."

Inuyasha watched the guy named Hojo type and click around on the hospital's computer. He was so happy that it was scary! The guy was such a dweeb! Why was he even letting him root through all his personal information like this?

"Found it!" Hojo said with a big smile. "Okay. On your father's side, Tatsuyo and Miho are listed as… deceased."

Inuyasha's expression didn't change in the slightest. But if you looked close enough, you could see his jaw muscles tightening. It showed Kagome how tense he really was.

"On your mother's side, Kaumen and Kira are… alive. Here are their full names, I'm sure you can find them in a phone book or something."

Kagome jumped out of her seat and scribbled down the names off the computer screen. "Thank you so much Hojo! I don't know how to thank you enough!"

"Maybe a rain check on that date you couldn't stay for?" he asked hopefully.

The room went dead silent. The sound of the computer whirring in the background was the only audible noise. Finally Kagome laughed nervously. "Maybe Hojo. I'll call you! Bye!" And she pulled Inuyasha from the room, not daring to look at him.

Then, completely to her shock, he started laughing. "You," he said, gasping for breath, "dated that loser?"

"Hey!" she replied defensively. "It was a blind date! And Hojo's not a loser! He's just… a little… dull."

This made him start laughing all over again as they left the hospital. It was a beautiful day out.

She elbowed him. "It's not funny!"

"Yeah, yeah it is," he said while wiping tears out of his eyes.

It was so strange, and pleasant, to see Inuyasha laugh. Of all people to bring this reaction out in him, she hadn't thought in a million years that it would be Hojo! But she was glad that he did. Just for good measure, she playfully shoved him off the sidewalk a little bit before smiling widely herself.

But he shoved her right back. Before long they were practically wrestling each other as they walked down the street, laughing. "No fair!" she shrieked. "You can't tickle me!" But he did anyways, and that just made her laugh harder.

A car pulled up alongside them, and Miroku's grinning face popped out of the window. "If you two are quite done flirting I'd be glad to drive you home," he declared happily.

Their arms dropped to their sides. "Miroku!" they shouted.

Inuyasha stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the cozy looking house in front of him. It was two stories high with yellow siding and white trim. It wasn't very big. This was his grandparent's home.

It had taken over an hour to drive here. Now that he was actually here though, standing in front of it, he wished he were still driving. His throat felt really dry. He would never say that he was afraid of anything, much less a couple of old people, but he was, just a little. What if they wanted nothing to do with him? There must have been a reason, after all, that he'd never met them. It would be another set of people to have rejected him. He wasn't sure if he could handle that again.

Well, he was already here, and he hadn't driven all that way for nothing. He took a deep breath and plastered his 'tough guy' look on his face. He was just about to walk forward too, when he felt Kagome slip her hand into his.

At first he was too shocked to do anything, but then he saw her smile. It was a small smile, an encouraging smile. Just like that night he'd imagined it when playing his guitar. He closed his hand firmly around hers and walked up to the door to ring the bell.

The door opened to reveal an old woman with short curly hair. It had been dyed back to its original dark color, but you could tell her age from the laughter wrinkles around her eyes, and her shrunken height.

"Can I help you?" she asked, seemingly confused at seeing two teenagers on her front porch.

"Who's there Kira?" her husband called from inside the house. He appeared next to her side. The man was much taller than his wife. He had a deep voice, wore extremely thick glasses, and had short-cut straight white hair. "Hmm," he mused. "You look familiar." He squinted through his thick glasses, trying to see the boy better.

"Hi," Inuyasha nodded his head the slightest bit. It might have made sense to try and beat around the bush in this kind of situation, but Inuyasha really didn't know how to or care to. "I'm… I'm your grandson."

They didn't reply. Inuyasha felt Kagome squeeze his hand the smallest bit tighter. The old woman's jaw had fallen slightly open, and the old man was still squinting at him. Damn eyesight!

Ever so slowly his grandmother reached over and touched his cheek. "Inuyasha?" she whispered. He nodded his head yes. And then her face broke out into a wide smile. "Come in dear, come in! I just made some brownies!"

Once they were all seated around the kitchen table, warm brownies in hand, his grandmother began to talk again. "Who's your lovely girlfriend?" she asked.

He nearly choked on his brownie as Kagome went beet red. "She's not-"

"I'm not-"

"I mean, no, she really isn't-"

"His girlfriend."

"My girlfriend. Right. What she said."

"She?!" his grandfather exclaimed. He was squinting furiously again. "I thought you were a boy!"

This made Kagome even redder. Inuyasha just smirked at her.

"You're embarrassing her!" she hissed at her husband. She turned back to them with a smile. "Excuse him, it's his eyes."

"Oh," Kagome stammered.

"So Inuyasha, how old are you now?"

But before Inuyasha could answer, his grandfather did. "Just turned eighteen." They all turned to him, surprised.

"How in the name of all that's holy did you know that?" Kira asked him.

He stuck his nose up in the air. So that's where Inuyasha gets it from! Kagome thought. "Just because I can't see anymore doesn't mean I'm going senile," he said haughtily. "It's simple math."

She rolled her eyes. "Here, have another brownie," and she shoved it into his mouth before turning back to the teens. "And how old are you… um…?"

"Kagome. Kagome Higurashi."

"That's a beautiful name."

"Thank you! I'm almost seventeen. My birthday is in a couple weeks."

"Really?" Inuyasha asked, genuine interest on his face.

"Yep!" she declared happily. "I can't wait!"

"Well happy birthday dear." She turned back to her newfound grandson. "Oh Inuyasha. You've got your mother's face you know. Your father's coloring, but your mother's face," she said sadly. Her husband wrapped an arm around her. "It's just not right!" she said. "You shouldn't have to grow up without her! Without either of them!" She leaned into him. "I miss her so much sometimes. And you, her son, barely even got to know her! I'm so sorry Inuyasha. So sorry."

Inuyasha brushed past that with a shake of his head. "How come, how come I didn't know you two back then?"

This time his grandfather did the talking. "We used to visit, back when you were too young to remember. Then we went abroad for a while, and by the time we'd gotten word of Aikyo having… passed away, you'd already been sent to live with, oh what's-his-face?"

"Myoga," Inuyasha supplied.

He snapped his fingers. "That's the one."

"Do you have school tomorrow?" Kira asked suddenly.

"Yes."

"It's getting late then. Here, I'll wrap up some brownies for you."

"Look here boy," his grandfather said. "If you ever need us, well, I guess you know where to find us." He shook Inuyasha's hand warmly. There was so much that could be said in a simple handshake.

Kira handed Inuyasha the brownies. "Now, I expect to hear from you around the holidays. Understood?" she told him with a motherly smile, just managing to blink back tears. She reached out, and hesitantly, he hugged her goodbye.

Kagome marveled at the way hardships could bring people together. Aikyo must have been a wonderful person.

As they left, his grandparents waved from the doorway. "Goodbye! Take good care of him Kagome dear!" she called.

Kagome gave Inuyasha a very Inuyasha-like smirk before waving back. "Don't worry! I will!"

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Inuyasha's such a hard character to write. He's got the strangest blend of jaded meanness and hopeful kindness that I've ever seen. You'd think they'd balance out and he'd be average, but he's not! And I feel like I'm either making him too soft or too hard.

Inuyasha and Kagome are both juniors, but Inuyasha's a year older. I forgot if I mentioned it in an earlier chapter or not, but he was held back the year his mother died. Sango is a senior and the same age as Inuyasha, and Miroku's in college. In case you forgot.

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