Meet the Family
Momiji sighed in frustration as she glared at the source of her current dilemma. She had been working at this particular problem for over thirty minutes now, and she was fast reaching the end of her patience. She finally gave into her frustration with a wail, and threw her calculator across the room. She was almost finished with her Math homework, and of course the final problem had to be the one that stumped her.
As she sat there glaring at her book, familiar laughter came from outside her window. Exhaustion, irritation over her current situation in general, and a lack of food she hadn't had time to consume, all combined into a ball of hot anger. Without stopping to think, Momiji leapt to her feet, grabbed her math book, ran to her window, threw open the shutters and flung the heavy tome straight at the face of a very surprised Kusanagi. The book connected with a satisfying thud, and Kusanagi lost his balance; where he promptly plunged out of the tree he had been perched in with a sound somewhere between an Urk! and a Damn!
She stared blankly at the empty tree branch. She had fully expected him to dodge her impromptu projectile, but apparently he hadn't expected her to do anything like throwing a heavy book at his head. With that thought came the realization that Kusanagi was most likely going to be in a foul mood when he regained his senses, and she quickly reached out to slam her shutters shut, but was stopped by a very irate Kusanagi, who was bleeding from the nose due to Momiji's shot, leaping up onto her windowsill with her book clutched in his hand.
His appearance was so sudden that she gave out a frightened squeak as she stumbled backwards, only to wind up landing on her backside with a pained groan as she got tangled up in her own feet.
"Damnit, Momiji!" Kusanagi snarled, as upset with her fall as he was with the new headache he had developed. He didn't realize that it was impossible to sound too threatening when he had blood leaking out of his nose and the imprint of Momiji's textbook on his forehead. He lightly jumped out of her windowsill and landed on the floor, then reached down and grabbed Momiji by the wrist. He quickly lifted her to her feet, waited until she had steadied herself, then yelled while he waved her book around, "Why the hell did you do that!"
Momiji folded her arms and stared back at him, trying her best to look defiant, but a small grin kept tugging at her lips as she gazed at his bruised face. She finally gave in and burst into giggles, reaching over to hand the startled Aragami a Kleenex (tm) from the box she kept on her desk.
"I'm sorry," she managed to gasp out as Kusanagi dabbed at the blood that trickled from his abused nose, "But you look like one of those manga characters who gets a nosebleed from looking up a girl's skirt." She then thought about her statement, and scowled as she remembered that this was Kusanagi she was talking about, and that he excelled at looking up skirts. At least, he excelled at looking up her skirts in his never-ending quest to discover which animal graced her underwear that day.
Speaking of which, "Don't you DARE!" she shouted when Kusanagi grinned at her and moved forward with a familiar glint in his eye. He stopped and smirked at her, his irritation forgotten now that his nose had stopped bleeding and his head was feeling more normal. His smirk turned into a frown, however, when a loud rumbling growl reverberated through the room. Momiji's cheeks turned scarlet as she placed her hand on her stomach.
"When's the last time you ate?" he asked.
"Um," was Momiji's intelligent answer as she thought back over the day. "Around lunchtime, I think."
"That was nine hours ago," Kusanagi chided as he turned to walk to the door. "You need to eat something; otherwise you'll never increase your bust size."
She remained where she was standing for a few moments after Kusanagi left the room, blinked a few times, then shrugged and followed after him. He was right; she really did need to eat, so she decided to let the comment about her bust size slide for the moment.
AEIOU AEIOU AEIOU AEIOU (better than nothing)
Sesshoumaru leapt lightly out of the old well, and instantly knew that what Kagome had told him about the well was true. Strange sounds assaulted his ears while his nose breathed in the unfamiliar air. He didn't waste much time trying to separate the different smells, however, because Kagome chose that moment to lean heavily against his side, her labored breathing serving to remind him why he had come through the well in the first place.
Adjusting his grip so that he easily supported most of Kagome's weight, he walked towards the door that led out of the well house, pausing long enough for the girl to slide it open. Stepping outside, he allowed his eyes to take in the changes that verified he was no longer in his own time.
There was the tree that Inu Yasha had been bound to, but it was much larger than it had been when they passed it on their way to the well. There was also a wall that surrounded the general area, and a house stood several yards away in an area that was nothing more than a field of flowers in his time. There was one difference from what the girl had told him, though. There were youkai in her time, he could sense them, but they seemed to be better adept at hiding their youki then back in the Sengoku Jidai.
"That's my house," Kagome croaked, gesturing weakly.
Sesshoumaru grunted his acknowledgement, and moved towards the house, making sure to shorten his stride so that Kagome could walk with him instead of being carried along. He was thankful that Shippou and Rin had quieted down. He was better able to keep his senses alert and focused in case danger was lurking nearby without their constant chatter interrupting his concentration, but everything around him remained as peaceful as it could be with all the strange noises that abounded around him.
The back door opened shortly before he reached the threshold, and he found himself looking down into the startled brown eyes of a boy who appeared slightly older than Rin. The boy stared at him, blinked slowly, and then turned his eyes to the girl who leaned against his side.
"Souta," Kagome said, her voice a mere whisper of sound. The boy's eyes widened and he turned his head to bellow in a voice loud enough to make Sesshoumaru long for the ability to slap his hand over one of his sensitive ears, "MOMMA! IT'S KAGOME WITH SOME GUY WHO'S BLEEDING EVERYWHERE!"
"Sorry," Kagome muttered in response to his slight flinch.
Sesshoumaru's ears were still ringing when an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to Kagome appeared in a flurry of footsteps. She quickly took in the situation at a glance, noticing her daughter's flushed face and the way she leaned against the elegant youkai, and motioned the small group inside.
"Please bring her this way, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said, instantly recognizing Inu Yasha's older brother from the stories her daughter had told her.
Sesshoumaru inclined his head and stepped inside, commanding the fur youkai to lower both Kagome's bag and the two kids gently to the ground. Rin quickly pressed herself against his leg while she gazed at the strangers with wide eyes, and Shippou hung back but kept his eyes on Kagome. Sesshoumaru paused long enough to wind the fur youkai around Kagome's legs in order to lift her, despite her protests, into his arms again, and followed as her mother led him up a set of wooden stairs. Rin stayed with him step for step while Shippou followed closely behind him.
Kagome's mother, for she could be no other person, led him down a hallway, then opened a door and gestured him inside. Maneuvering carefully so that his armor didn't hit anything while still keeping Rin from getting too underfoot, Sesshoumaru made his way into Kagome's room, and deposited her onto the strange raised mattress her mother told him was her bed. Disentangling his fur from around her legs, he removed his arm from behind her back and stepped away, allowing her mother to move in and check her daughter over. Satisfied that, aside from her illness, Kagome was all right, she turned her attention to the youkai lord.
"We should have your wounds looked at, as well," she said.
"No need, they've already healed," Sesshoumaru said, pulling his kimono open a tad so both Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome could see his unblemished shoulder. The wounds had been deeper than he had originally thought, which explained the reason it had taken longer than normal for them to heal.
"Hey Momma," Kagome croaked, and then gave into a bout of coughing. Mrs. Higurashi watched her daughter worriedly, recognizing the signs and knowing that she needed to give their doctor a call. "How did you know this is Sesshoumaru?"
"You've told me about him, remember?" Asako asked, reaching out to brush her daughter's bangs away from her flushed face. "He and Inu Yasha have the same hair and eye color. Plus, he really does have that unearthly beauty and innate snobbishness that you told me about."
Sesshoumaru blinked and glared at Kagome, who glanced at him guiltily before flushing an even darker red. Mrs. Higurashi noticed her reaction and smiled, before she patted her lightly on the shoulder and said she was going to give Kagome's doctor a call. She rose and gave a small bow to the youkai lord who stood against the far wall, then left her daughter, fully trusting that Sesshoumaru meant them no harm.
"Unearthly beauty?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice sounding as if he was between vexed and amused, and couldn't decide which one to settle for.
Kagome muttered something incoherent, so he decided to push a little further. "Innate snobbishness?"
"Hey, don't deny that you look down your nose at everyone. I've seen you do it while you were sitting, and that takes a special kind of snobbishness," Kagome snapped, her voice lacking fire due to its croaking quality.
"It's only natural that I look down upon inferior beings," Sesshoumaru said, tilting his head in order to gaze down the appendage in question at the girl who was gazing at him from her bed, a suspicious glint that appeared to be humor in his eye. Gods, was he actually bantering with a human and enjoying himself?
How the mighty doth fall, a voice inside his head laughed while Kagome let out a snort, which quickly turned into another round of coughing.
"You should probably head back home," she said, leaning her head back against the headboard. "The doctor will be arriving soon, and I'll be all right."
"I want to stay!" Rin and Shippou said in unison, with Shippou explaining, "We want to make sure you're healed soon, Kagome!"
"Shippou-chan, you know humans in my time aren't accustomed to dealing with youkai. I know that I'd never seen one before I fell through the well the first time. It . . . would be extremely awkward and unpleasant if you were discovered by my doctor," Kagome explained, glancing at Sesshoumaru in order to include him in her explanation.
"You are still under my protection," Sesshoumaru said shortly, breaking into Shippou's beginning argument. "We shall not leave until you are well and I can return you to my idiot brother."
"Oh no," Kagome said, shaking her head, then grabbing it as that motion caused the room to spin slightly. "We don't know how long it'll take until I'm healthy enough to return through the well, and there's no way we can keep you here for however long that takes."
"I wouldn't say that, dear," Mrs. Higurashi said as she reentered Kagome's room with a tray full of steaming mugs. "I brought you some Chamomile, Kagome," she continued, ignoring her daughter's wide-eyed look of horror at her earlier statement.
"I didn't know what you would like, Sesshoumaru-sama, so I brought up some Oolong," she continued, handing the glowering youkai lord his own steaming mug. She had noticed the stubborn set to his jaw and was determined to defuse the situation before he lost his temper. She knew that he was VERY different from his younger brother, but she wasn't really all that willing to take a gamble with youkai tempers. Besides, he had brought her very ill daughter back home, and she wasn't about to refuse to allow him to stay if he wanted to make sure Kagome got well. Kneeling down, she offered the small girl who stood just behind Sesshoumaru's leg a soft smile as she offered her a mug of hot chocolate, and was rewarded with a cheerful grin as the girl accepted it from her. She then turned and offered the same to the little kitsune kit, who took the mug, gave a sniff, and with a happy squeal began to sip happily at the warmed beverage.
"Momma, he's the Lord of the Western Lands," Kagome croaked frantically, acting as if Sesshoumaru weren't in the room. "He needs to get back through the well in order to take care of his duties."
Sesshoumaru felt a vein pop in the face of Kagome's stubbornness, but Shippou spoke up before he could, once again, reiterate to the girl that he was not going anywhere until she was well.
"I don't think that's possible, Kagome," the kitsune said thoughtfully, looking down into his mug.
Kagome blinked at him. "Why is that, Shippou-chan?" she asked.
"Because I don't think the well will work for us unless you're with us. Remember when we were attacked by the wolf youkai who could conjure wolves from his mouth? I was running from them with the Shikon shard and I fell into the well, but it didn't take me through to your time, even though I had the shard with me."
Kagome stared at him, feeling her stomach sink as Shippou's words sank in. She remembered her desperation in trying to get through the well; the sudden sensing of the Shikon shard, and then her surprise as the magic once again worked and took her to the other side. Shippou had been at the bottom of the well in the Sengoku Jidai era, and the shard had been sitting right next to him. If the well truly worked the way they believed it to, then it should have sent him through to her time regardless of whether or not he was physically holding the shard, but it hadn't. Then how was Inu Yasha able to get through when he never had any shards with him? Kagome nearly groaned as her thoughts didn't yield up answers, only a worsening headache.
"But how are we supposed to keep you from being discovered?" she moaned, putting her face into her hands. "We can't just stuff you into a closet until my doctor leaves."
"Let me worry about that, Kagome, you just get some rest," her mother said calmly. "Sesshoumaru-sama, if you and the children would follow me, I'll give you a tour of the house and see about setting up a disguise for you before Kagome's doctor arrives."
Kagome watched with wide eyes as the Lord of the Western Lands followed her mother out of her room, a serene expression on his face. Shippou and Rin were right behind him, and Shippou tossed Kagome a confident smile before he vanished out of her door. With a resigned sigh, Kagome took advantage of the lack of visitors to get to her feet and close her bedroom door. She quickly changed into her pajamas before opening the door again, and settling herself under the covers of her bed, thinking, not for the first time, that this had been a royally bad idea.
Not like I had much choice in the matter, she thought to herself as she waited for her doctor, hoping that the woman would have good news and tell her that she would be better in a few days, thus limiting the time she'd have to spend with a volatile youkai lord. Though, he's been almost . . . nice since I first woke up in his home.
Kagome's thoughts continued to flit through her mind until she finally gave into her body's demands and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
AEIOU AEIOU AEIOU AEIOU
"What the HELL does that bitch think she's up to!" Inu Yasha snarled as he stalked through the forest towards Kaede's village. He was in a foul mood, which was complicated by the guilt he felt over his harsh words to Kagome three nights ago when she had invited him back to her time on the night of the new moon. Once again he had spoken without thinking about his words first, and in his heart he knew Kagome was justified in the multiple "sits" she had subjected him to, though his pride and his aching back demanded that he never admit that aloud. Still, she didn't have to go and vanish on him, making him worry over her safety, which in turn served to piss him off even more and he had decided that if she was going to sulk, then fine, let her sulk. He figured that after one or two days, she would come back and they could continue on as they always had while hunting for more jewel shards.
It wasn't until the third day was nearly over and there hadn't been a single sign of Kagome or Shippou that Inu Yasha decided to go to Kaede's village and hopefully reconcile with Kagome. She had never stayed away so long before, and he was starting to become worried. It didn't help that Miroku had to toss in his own opinions and worries, and Sango just looked at him with a disapproving gaze that made him squirm more than a dozen of Miroku's scoldings.
So here he was, heading back towards the village while trying to quash the angry guilt that nipped at his heels.
He was almost in sight of the village when a scent that caused the hair on the back of his arms to rise up reached him. He skidded to a halt and turned in the direction of the bon eater's well, praying that, for once, his nose was deceiving him.
Situated on Kirara above Inu Yasha's head, Sango and Miroku watched as he suddenly stopped for a moment, and then rapidly changed directions. They both that didn't bode well, and with an unspoken agreement they turned and followed the red blur that ran along the ground beneath them.
The closer he got to the well, the more icy dread curled in his stomach. Inu Yasha easily picked up Kagome and Shippou's scent, but what caused him to pour on the speed was the way their scent was intertwined with his older half-brother and an unknown human girl's scent. He could tell that Kagome was ill, and if Sesshoumaru had taken advantage of her weakened state to use her against him in a bid to get the Tetsusaiga, then he was about to become short a brother.
He reached the clearing where the well was situated, but the individuals he sought were nowhere to be found. He growled in the back of his throat as he followed the entwined scents across the clearing to the well, where to his horror, all four individual scents vanished into the inky blackness below.
Miroku, Sango and Kirara landed in the clearing in time to see Inu Yasha vanish head first into the well, shouting Kagome's name in a tone that suggested something was seriously wrong. Miroku and Sango exchanged worried looks before they both clambered off Kirara and jogged towards the well. Then they reached the rickety structure, Sango's attention was caught by a slip of folded up parchment that had been placed against the base of the well, and she bent to retrieve it while Miroku went and peered over the lip of the well after his friend. To his surprise, his eyes were met with empty darkness, as was the norm. Instead, he saw Inu Yasha buried head first, up to his shoulders in the dirt at the well's bottom, the rest of his body extending upwards like one of Kagome's freshly shot arrows.
"Inu Yasha?" Sango called down when she joined Miroku at the top.
"What the FUCK!" Inu Yasha roared as he planted his hands on the ground and extracted his head from its embrace.
"Why didn't the well work?" Sango asked softly, and Miroku shrugged in reply, his attention on the hanyou below them.
Inu Yasha leapt out of the well, turned and jumped right back in. The monk and the taijiya watched with interest as he came to settle softly on the bottom once again. The hanyou stood with his arms crossed over his chest for a brief moment before he suddenly crouched and place his curled hands on the ground. Sango and Miroku leapt back in surprise as a veritable wall of dirt erupted from the well along with a steady stream of curses.
Sango quickly lifted Hiraikotsu above her and Miroku's heads to protect them from the rain of dirt while Kirara, back in her small form, sat at their feet.
"Do you have any idea why the well isn't working?" Sango asked over the noise of dirt and rocks bouncing off her large weapon.
"No, I have no idea," Miroku replied, watching as dirt continued to stream from the well. "But something is definitely wrong."
"Yeah, the well isn't working," Sango said sarcastically.
"No, no, with Inu Yasha," Miroku clarified. "Something must really be worrying him beyond the well not working to provoke this violent of a reaction from him."
Sango had to agree with him. Usually Inu Yasha would have done a lot of yelling and stomping around, but his current actions were bordering on pure panic, which was starting to fuel her own worry as she tried not to think of the various, and more often than not, tragic, reasons for the well to be closed. She heard a crinkling sound, and with a start remembered the slip of folded parchment she had picked up from the ground. Seeing that the wall of dirt had stopped erupting from the well, Sango placed her weapon on the ground and looked at the parchment she had crushed in her fist. She blinked when she saw Inu Yasha's name written in black ink on the slip, and she quickly returned to the now silent well, Miroku watching her movements curiously.
"Inu Yasha!" Sango called down to her friend, and stepped back as a highly upset and extremely dirty hanyou leapt out of the well.
"Why won't it work?" he nearly snarled, turning to glare at the current source of vexation.
"Inu Yasha," Sango called again, regaining his attention, and she handed the parchment to him. "This was left at the foot of the well."
Inu Yasha stared at the folded piece of parchment for a moment, before he took it from her, slipped the ribbon from around it, and began to read. His two companions watched him closely as his face changed from worry to shock to downright disbelief before he dropped the letter and stood still, staring at nothing for several moments.
"Is it from Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, hope at the thought that her friend was all right and unhurt lighting her eyes.
"I don't FUCKING believe it!" Inu Yasha suddenly roared, causing the two other members of his current group to jump slightly in surprise. He turned and began to walk away from the well, but he began to pick up speed with every footfall. Miroku had enough presence of mind to call after him to find out where he was going, and Inu Yasha called back that he was heading to Kaede's to see if she could shed any light on the workings of the well before he vanished over the horizon. The two exchanged a look, and then turned to gaze down at the discarded parchment that was lying so innocently against the grass where Inu Yasha had dropped it. Without hesitation, Miroku bent down and picked it up, then began to read.
Sango felt a small spurt of guilt over reading the letter, but it was quickly dispelled by Miroku's low whistle of surprise.
"That's interesting," he said, his eyes never leaving the parchment.
"What does it say?" Sango asked, too impatient to wait for her turn to read what was written.
"It's from Kagome-sama," Miroku began. "She says that she's fallen ill from diving into the irrigation river to rescue a small girl from flood waters caused by that massive storm we had during the new moon. "
"Did she return home to be healed?" Sango asked, and then stared in shock at Miroku's next words.
"It turns out that the little girl is a ward of Sesshoumaru, and he now feels he owes her a life debt for saving her life. She's been with him the past few days, and he's taken both her and Shippou through the well so that she can get the treatment she needs to be healed. She ends by asking Inu Yasha to not try and follow them through the well, as she is quite safe with Sesshoumaru and they would never be able to explain the disaster that would happen should he and his brother meet on the other side in her time. She also says she'll return as soon as she's well enough to travel again."
"Oh my, no wonder Inu Yasha was so upset, he probably smelled Sesshoumaru on the way here," Sango breathed. "I still can't believe . . . Sesshoumaru?"
"That's what Kagome-sama says," Miroku answered, handing Sango the letter and watching as her eyes skimmed over the words.
"I still can't believe . . . she says she's safe with Sesshoumaru?" Sango exclaimed again, flapping the letter in the air for emphasis.
"Well, if he feels he owes her a life-debt, it shouldn't be surprising," Miroku mused aloud as he placed his fingers on his chin in a thoughtful pose. "Sesshoumaru does have his own brand of honor."
"The guy has tried to kill Inu Yasha, along with the rest of us, upon numerous occasions, and you say he has honor?" Sango asked, giving him an incredulous look.
"Yes, but he's never attacked during a new moon, has he?" Miroku replied.
"But he doesn't know about Inu Yasha turning human," Sango said, then added, "Does he?"
"Inu Yasha thinks he does," Miroku said.
"He does! He never said a word to the rest of us," Sango exclaimed, surprised.
"Well, I doubt he even remembers telling me, as he was quite drunk at the time."
"Drunk? Just WHEN was Inu Yasha drunk?"
"Er," Miroku flushed a bit. "It was before we met you. Inu Yasha had, once again, upset Kagome-sama so that she left in a temper for the bathing facilities of the house we were staying in. I decided to console Inu Yasha for the harsh 'sitting' Kagome-sama gave him before she left, and invited him to partake of some sake with me. He agreed . . ."
"Probably after you dared him to do it," Sango snorted.
"And before I knew it, "Miroku continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "He was telling me how his 'bastard of a brother' had never attacked during a new moon phase, though he was sure Sesshoumaru knew of his weakness because his hanyou smell changes to that of a full human during the day leading to the new moon, and that Sesshoumaru had been close enough in range on several occasions to be able to pick up on his changed scent easily. He can't verify his suspicions, of course, but it is rather interesting that we've never seen Sesshoumaru at all during the time of the new moon, though he seems to be everywhere else."
"Hmmm," Sango mused, her brow furrowed. "If Inu Yasha is right and Sesshoumaru does know the time of his change, then he's not attacking when he'd have the best chance of snatching Tetsusaiga for his own."
"Which shows that he's honorable in his own right. Anyone less so would have taken advantage long before now, and yet, he hasn't."
Sango sighed, and then words burst from her lips as she gave vent to her frustration. "Damnit, I don't like it! Kagome-chan's over there with a cold-blooded youkai lord with just Shippou-chan for protection! I don't care what she says in her letter; I think Kagome-chan is way too trusting for her own good, and who knows whether or not Sesshoumaru has an ulterior motive for taking Kagome-chan through the well. He could have just brought her here and turned her over to Inu Yasha."
Miroku nodded in agreement, for Sango had spoken some of his own thoughts aloud. He knew that despite Sango's seemingly calm demeanor, she was as tied up in knots over the situation as he and Inu Yasha were. He also knew that she knew that for the moment, they couldn't do anything about it, and it had to be extremely frustrating for her to just sit by and wait to see what happens as the rest of them. Perhaps even more so, because she had already lost so much. Sango was used to action, and the only reason she wasn't leaping into the well herself to try to get through was because she knew it only worked for either Inu Yasha or Kagome, and since Inu Yasha had already proven it wasn't working, then it was futile to try on their part.
Sighing, he reached out and gently touched one of her tightly clenched fists. "You know there's nothing we can do right now but hope that Kaede has some idea as to what's happened," he said softly.
"I know that, houshi-sama," Sango replied, glaring a bit. "That doesn't mean that I have to like it. And if you're going to lose your other hand if it strays any further south."
Abashed, Miroku quickly removed the offending appendage and smiled, holding his hands up for her to see. Sango shook her head in disgust and stalked past him, heading towards Kaede's village. Nothing good was coming of them just standing around and staring at the rickety old well, and asking questions was better than doing nothing. Still, the fear and frustration were forming a hard knot in her stomach, and she prayed that Kagome healed quickly and returned soon, unscathed, before the worry over her safety drove Inu Yasha into doing something stupid like seeking help from someone who couldn't be trusted to keep Kagome's secret safe. And unfortunately, there were plenty of individuals who wouldn't hesitate to use that knowledge for their own reasons.
To be continued . . .
A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to get out! But I just finished my first year in graduate school (going for my Masters in Library Science) and I forgot just how much TIME school takes out of a person's life. It's not just the grunt work; it's the mental exertion that can really take the toll. And unfortunately, my poor fics got put onto the back burner while school took front burner. This is going to be a rough couple of years.
Hope you guys enjoy, and that it was at least sort of worth the wait.
Definitions same as always.