A/N: Well, this is my first fanfic, so please bare with me. I am my own beta right now and relying on my spell check and rereading each chapter 5 times..lol.. I hope that you all enjoy this, I'm not sure on how original my story is, but I have never read anything like it before, although I wouldn't doubt if there is another like this out there. I apologize for the slow start, I just want to establish the characters and how they are in their environments since they are living in opposite worlds from the manga/anime. This is an alternate universe fic (AU), so yes there are many differences from what many are used to. I stick with the Japanese spelling of the names so I don't care if anyone likes the names spelled differently. Although I don't have anything really explicit in here I am keeping the rating high, just in case for foul language etc. This is not a lemon and never will be. Questions and comments are more than welcome so please review. Thank you to those who took the time to read this to the end.
Disclaimer: I will only do this for the first chapter. This disclaimer goes for the whole story. Inuyasha (its ideas, name and characters) are property of Rumiko Takahashi and affiliates, I do not own or pretend to own them. No part of this story was copied, all ideas came from my mind and any similarity so another authors piece is coincidental, so please do not review or email me screaming about stolen ideas. I have more important things to do, and too much pride to stoop that low. I may sound bitchy or standoffish, but I am not, I just want to get rid of all candy coating and be straight to the point. I am much nicer than I sound here. Please don't be put off by my words, but please adhere to my simple requests and we may all live in harmony, …
Torikaeru
Chapter 1: Ame to Ko (Rain and Incense)
A few hours past sunrise, Kagome awoke to the smell of her mother cooking. She rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and stood up from her straw mat to stretch. Letting out a huge yawn, she continued to stretch, raising her arms above her head.
A small hand pushed aside the bamboo blind hanging in the doorway. Souta peeked inside and grinned when he saw his sister was awake.
"Kagome, Mom said to get up! Breakfast is almost done!" he announced.
She winced at the volume of his voice and groggily scolded him. "Souta, why do you always have to be so loud this early in the morning?"
"Because, that's the only way to wake you up!" he giggled. She rolled her eyes and made a swatting motion at him. Taking the hint, he left.
Kagome straightened out her simple, traditional kimono and patted down her messy hair. Once she figured that she looked presentable she made her way out into the main room of their humble home. Her mother was ready to serve the delicious smelling food, and started making her rounds.
Kagome looked over and noticed her grandfather and Souta already sitting around the room's fire pit, eagerly awaiting their meal. Kagome made her way around and found a spot to sit that faced one of the few windows they had. She mentally groaned when she noticed how grey it looked outside. The weather was still awful.
"What's the matter, Kagome?" her mother's soft voice broke her thoughts, as she served her daughter some soup.
"Nothing…," she grumbled and after a short pause continued, "the weather has been like this for the past two weeks! I'm tired of the rainy season."
"Me too!" cried Souta.
Her mother smiled warmly. "The rainy season only feels long. It will be over before you know it."
Her words didn't do much to console Kagome but her growling stomach distracted her thoughts as she remembered how hungry she was. They finished their meal in silence.
After breakfast they all went about their chores. Kagome and her mom spent most of the morning tending to the fields and collecting herbs. After helping Grandpa to fix a patch on the roof, where there was a leak, Souta followed him down to the river to catch some fish for lunch.
The entire, small, village was busily bustling away well into the afternoon. It was easy for them to get distracted by work when the sun wasn't high in the sky, baking down on their heads. Soon hunger won out though, and everyone slowly disbursed into their respective homes for a break and some lunch.
With nearly all the chores completed before noon, Kagome and Souta only had a few responsibilities left before they were free to run off and play. Those were all finished quickly and Souta ran across the village to play with a couple of his friends. Meanwhile, Kagome wandered off in the opposite direction to find Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka.
Moments later she found Yuka and Ayumi sitting together on a fence which lined the dirt road that passed their village. The road led in the direction of neighboring villages, where they could go shopping or sell goods in the local markets.
She approached the girls from behind and coming up on the left side of Yuka, placed her elbows on the fence.
"Hi, Kagome!" they said together, as they turned their heads.
"Hey, what are you both up to?"
"Not much, just talking and watching who passes by." Ayumi replied sweetly.
Kagome looked around, "Where's Eri?"
"Oh, she went with her mom to go to shopping at the next village." Yuka said.
"Again?" Kagome wondered out loud.
"Yea, I wish I could go to the markets as often as she does." Ayumi added.
"We don't even go that often to sell goods." Yuka complained.
"Yea…" the two girls agreed.
Silence fell among them, and they looked back and forth at each other briefly before Ayumi bounced slightly where she sat, in excitement, "Hey!" she chirped, "Kagome, isn't it your birthday tomorrow!"
"Yea, you're gonna be sixteen!" Yuka pointed out.
"Yes, it is, but it will probably rain…again."
Ayumi gave her a sympathetic look and they once again fell silent for a short while. Suddenly, someone walking up the road from their left caught their attention. As he drew closer they recognized him.
Ayumi leaned closer to her friends and needlessly whispered, "Oh! It's Hojou-kun."
Yuka turned to Kagome and said through clenched teeth, "Kagome, you should talk to Hojou. You know he likes you."
"I know, I know. It's just-"
"No, no more excuses. What's the matter? Don't you like him!" Yuka inquired.
"Well yea of course…" Kagome said unconvincingly.
"Oh, he's so cute." Ayumi sighed. Yuka gave her a death glare and Ayumi stammered, "Oh, uh, sorry," followed by a nervous grin.
Yuka rolled her eyes and turned towards the young man who was nearing their section of fence. Using her feet against the bottom rail, to support her weight, she raised her arms and waved to get Hojou's attention.
A wide smile spread across his face and he raised his left arm high in the air and gave a big wave while calling out to them. "Hi, Kagome! Hi, Yuka, and Ayumi!"
The girls all blushed, lifted up a hand and gave girlish waves in return. Yuka then made a small "come-here" motion to Hojou and he complied, breaking into a slow jog. He came to a stop in front of Kagome, looked directly at her and asked how she's been feeling. Turning her head slightly to the side, she blushed and waved off his question, telling him that she's fine and that he shouldn't worry about her.
"Well, I know how you've been feeling lately with all this bad weather, so I picked up a bit of sandalwood chips from a merchant in the last town, for a good price."
"Oh, Hojou-kun, you didn't need to go through all that trouble for me." Kagome blushed even harder and her eyes darted towards her friends who were now whispering and snickering beside her.
"Don't worry, it was nothing. If you burn them the scent will help clear you mind and relax you. It will help with your tension from being housebound, due to the rain." He said while handing her the small cloth package containing the sandalwood.
Kagome just stared at the gift resting in her palm.
"Kagome, I was hoping that you'd like to go for a walk with me down to the lake sometime. Uh, once the weather clears that is." He said.
She paused for a moment as if thinking, but her mind was blank. "Oh, well, uh…" She didn't know what to say. The lake was in a secluded spot, far from town and was a favorite spot for a young man to take a woman he was courting. She suddenly became very nervous.
"Come on! Go for it!" Yuka and Ayumi nudged her.
She turned and looked at Hojou, but no words would come from her mouth.
Unable to stand it any longer, Yuka jumped in. "Kagome would love to go! She's just so honored by your request, she's been rendered speechless."
Hojou grinned and told Kagome he was glad that she accepted his invitation and that he'd see her soon. With that he said goodbye and continued on his way.
Once Hojou was out of earshot, Kagome turned to Yuka and cried out, "Why'd you do that for!"
"Well, if I didn't step in, nothing past blushing and small talk would ever happen between you two."
"It's so sweet and romantic that he thought about you like that." Ayumi added, hoping to make Kagome feel better. "I wish I had a guy like him courting me."
"Yea…" Kagome sighed and forced a smile.
The girls inquired on whether or not she'd use the incense. Kagome shrugged her shoulders and after a bit of silence made a comment about how low the sun was getting. She said goodbye to her two friends and they watched her leave. Each finally letting out a big sigh and shaking their heads in frustration, they both turned around to head for home too.
Kagome reached home in time for dinner and was unusually quiet, spending most of the time petting their cat, Buyo. She only had one helping then retired to their sleeping quarters early. But instead of sleeping, she sat up in the candle light, and unwrapped the contents of the cloth package. In the center was about an ounce of sandalwood, cut into very fine chips. She shook her head as she wondered how he could have afforded such an expensive commodity. Then she thought about what Hojou said and for once actually considered taking his advice.
'He spent all that money on me, so I should at least use it.' She reasoned with herself. 'Besides, what could it hurt? And if it works, well I could definitely use some release from this tension.'
Walking across the room, Kagome knelt in front of a small, three-legged, ceramic incense burner. She took a tiny brick of charcoal and lit the edge with the flame from the candle. Once half the brick had turned grayish in color, she poked a hole in the powdery ashes big enough to place the piece inside, and covered it with a thin layer of ash. Kagome then picked out a couple pieces of sandalwood and placed them upon the ash covered charcoal.
Once done she went back to her mat and sat down, legs crossed and closed her eyes. Within moments her sinuses were filled with the sweet, woody scent, she relaxed her muscles and inhaled deeper with each passing breath.
It didn't take long for her racing mind to slow down. Within minutes the only thoughts in her head were about Hojou, his intentions and trying to decide what she felt for him. She knew he definitely liked her, in some way. But she wasn't sure if his gestures were out of friendship, infatuation, lust or if he was looking for something more, like marriage. But why shouldn't she marry Hojou? He was obviously very caring and took time to pay attention to the little things. When most girls were being married off in arranged unions, she should be grateful that her family was different, and that a boy such as Hojou was even interested in her despite knowing this. He didn't need to waste his time on her.
She couldn't deny she had feelings of some sort for him or that she was attracted to him. But then, why was it that she felt like something was missing? Why did being around Hojou feel more wrong than right?
Kagome then realized, that, despite the stillness and clarity of her mind, the incense could not clear up the confusion and uncertainty in her heart.